Gastrodia elata has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating headaches, dizziness, and convulsive illness for centuries. G. elata has traditionally been processed by steaming or blanching to increase the content and quality of its main ingredients. This study aimed to identify changes in physicochemical properties and active ingredients of G. elata depending on the steaming time. Data of this study could be used to develop traditional medicine and health foods. No steaming was used as a control. Steaming time was 5, 10, 20, 30, 60, or 120 min. The drying yield according to the steaming time ranged from 20.2% to 22.9%, with the lowest drying yield at 120 min. As the steaming time increased, gastrodin content increased more than that in fresh G. elata due to inhibition of β-glucosidase enzyme activity, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol condensation, and parishin decomposition. Steamed G. elata did not show higher total polyphenols, total flavonoids, or ABTS radical scavenging activities than fresh G. elata even with an increase of steaming time. The steaming time to improve the quality of G. elata may varied depending on the size of G. elata. Thus, it is important to set the steaming time taking these characteristics into consideration.

Although aronia (Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott) contains higher levels of polyphenols and more antioxidant activity than other berries, it is a berry that is difficult to eat raw due to its strong astringent taste and lack of sweetness. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of tannin reduction of aronia by bioconversion method using mushroom mycelia cultures. Aronia and liquid cultures of Lentinula edodes and Phellinus linteus mycelia were mixed and then treated for 48 hours at 60°C. Tannin content, total polyphenol, total flavonoid and antioxidant activities (DPPH, ABTS radical-scavenging activities and FRAP activities) were investigated. The tannin content decreased from 64.2 mg ECE/g to 57.9 mg ECE/g (9.8% reduction) when treated with liquid culture of L. edodes and from 77.3 mg ECE/g to 47.9 mg ECE/g (38.1% reduction) from treatment with a liquid culture of P. linteus. Therefore treatment with mushroom mycelia culture solution may improve the palatability of aronia reducing the astringent taste.

This study investigated the quality characteristics of black soybean sediments to diversify the availability of soybean. The cooking method selected for black soybean sediment preparation was a pressure cooking process without soaking, considering the isoflavone content. The black soybean sediments were prepared by the addition of 0, 10, 30, 50 and 100% (w/w) black soybean. When 0% to 100% black soybean was added to the black soybean sediments, the moisture and crude protein contents increased from 53.17% to 54.41% and from 12.07% to 21.68%, respectively. The total isoflavone content of the black soybean sediments was increased from 2.69 μg/g to 696.09 μg/g, respectively, by the addition of black soybean. The anthocyanin content of the black soybean sediments ranged from 279.29 μg/g to 387.8 μg/g by the addition of black soybean. The total polyphenol content and the total flavonoid content of the black soybean sediments range from 1.72 mg/g to 2.00 mg/g and 0.89 mg/g to 0.92 mg/g, respectively, by the addition of black soybean. Given the isoflavones, total polyphenol, and anthocyanin content of the black soybean sediments, it is appropriate that the ratio of added black soybeans is at least 50% after the pressure-cooking process, regardless of soaking.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality characteristics and antioxidant activity by collecting four times on six samples of Jeonbuk regional soybean pastes (Doenjang) traditionally prepared for this study. The water content of samples decreased according to progress of the aging period and the water content of the fourth sample collected was 42.40~59.64% (p<0.05). The salinity of the fourth Doenjang samples was 11.80~18.60%. The amino-type nitrogen content was 122.67~540.33 mg% immediately after the preparation of Doenjang in the Jeonbuk region and the content of the fourth collection samples increased from 251.49 to 982.36 mg% (p<0.05). The isoflavone glycosides decreased but daidzein, genistein and glycitein, which are aglycones, increased during aging periods. The total polyphenol content of the fourth collected samples was 11.99~19.27 mg GAE/g (p<0.05). The DPPH radical scavenging activity, ABTS radical scavenging activity and FARP of the fourth Doenjang samples were 51.88~81.21%, 84.14~90.32%, and 1.08~3.11 mg Trolox/g, respectively. As a result of quality analysis on Doenjang, the superiority of traditional Doenjang has been proven by the increase of amino nitrogen content and antioxidant activity according to the aging period. However, factor analysis on quality differences of regional Doenjang should be conducted to ensure standardization and quality improvement.

Leaf structure is one of the important agronomic traits. A rolled leaf mutant was induced from an ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS)-treated japonica rice, 'Koshihikari'. The rolled leaf mutant showed phenotypes of reduced leaf width and leaf rolling. In addition, several abnormal morphological characteristics were observed, including dwarfism, defected panicle, delayed germination, and lower seed-setting. Microscopic analysis revealed that the number of small veins was decreased and the sizes of adaxial bulliform cells were reduced in the mutant leaves. The genetic study with two F2 populations from the crosses of the rolled leaf mutant with 'Koshihikari' and Milyang23 suggested that the mutant phenotype might be controlled by a single dominant gene.