Fresh herbs were water- and steam-blanched at 90-100°C and 100°C, respectively, for 1-10 min and 30 s to 7 min for parsley and marjoram, respectively, and subsequently minced to obtain a paste. For the first time, phenolic compounds of unheated marjoram were characterised by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Hereby, 10 phenolics were detected. Among them, apigenin-glucuronide, lucenin-2 and lithospermic acid were tentatively identified for the first time. In unheated parsley, apart from the major compound apiin, 10 further phenolics were characterised including several p-coumaric acid derivatives which were newly detected. Except for apiin, short-time steam- and water-blanching (1 min), respectively, did not cause significant losses of phenolic compounds, and thus proved to be the most suitable measures to ensure polyphenol retention. Consequently, blanching is a recommendable initial operation in the processing of parsley and marjoram into novel paste-like products.
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