Impact of consecutive steps through the food chain on the quality of Brussels sprouts, with a special focus on preparation and reheating as applied in large-scale kitchens

• The effect of preparation lines on Brussels sprouts quality was studied. • The impact on glucosinolates concentration and volatile profiles was limited. • The type of reheating impacted the residual vitamin C content. • Blanching and pureeing were seen to be determinative for the effect upon processing. • In vivo tests reflected the findings as retrieved via instrumental analysis. This study investigated the impact of preparation processes (as applied in large-scale kitchens) on the resulting sensory and health-related quality aspects starting from industrially blanched and frozen Brussels sprouts. A single (steaming) and a double-heat (steaming and reheating) preparation were considered. Consumers consume vegetables both whole and as disintegrated (puree-like) systems. Hence, in this study, two distinct pretreatment conditions (i.e., intact Brussels sprouts and Brussels sprouts puree) included in the preparation processes. It was observed that steaming intact Brussels sprouts via both preparation methods did affect the quality, but only to a limited extent, possibly explained by the fact that the starting material was blanched. Pretreatment was observed to be a determinative step, as also observed in the fact that the quality of puree-systems was more affected upon processing compared to the quality of the intact Brussels sprouts. GSLs and volatile profiles were indeed not observed to be affected largely upon preparation and reheating processing. However, vitamin C concentration did lead to loss of 38–45% due to heat and exposure to oxygen. In conclusion, pretreatment (e.g., blanching and disintegrating) is considered the most determinative step in affecting the resulting quality of Brussels sprouts, which can be kept in mind for industrial and home practices.