Comparison of the mineral and trace element concentrations between ‘gazpacho’ and the vegetables used in its elaboration

Abstract

Contents of moisture, ash and minerals and trace elements (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc and manganese) were determined in vegetable samples—garlic, tomato, white onion, cucumber, pepper—in ‘gazpacho’, which was elaborated using these vegetables. The mean sodium concentration in ‘gazpacho’ was much higher than those mean values observed in the fresh vegetables. The mean values of the minerals studied in the ‘gazpacho’, except sodium and calcium, tend to be lower than the mean values in the vegetables used. Garlic presented significantly higher mean contents of the trace elements than the rest of the vegetables and the ‘gazpacho’. Many highly significant correlations between all the minerals analyzed, except calcium, were observed. Factor analysis makes it possible to differentiate the samples of garlic, onion, and ‘gazpacho’ from one another, and from the rest of the vegetables considered.

• Minerals
• trace elements
• ‘gazpacho’
• tomato
• cucumber
• garlic
• onion
• pepper