Chemometric approach to develop frying stable sunflower oil blends stabilized with oleoresin rosemary and ascorbyl palmitate

•Frying stability of sunflower oil mixed with ROSM and AP was tested (180 °C/18 h).•Oil blends were prepared using CCRD to obtain a frying stable synergistic blend.•Frying induced changes in the oxidation indices were mapped using PCA and HCA.•Blend optimization was performed using hybrid PCA-RSM approach.•Optimized blend consisted of 1309.69 and 129.29 mg/kg of ROS and AP, respectively.

The frying performance of sunflower oil blends (SOBs) stabilized with oleoresin rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) (ROSM) (200-1500 mg/kg) and ascorbyl palmitate (AP) (100-300 mg/kg) were tested for 18 h open pan-frying. Sunflower oil with TBHQ (SOTBHQ) (200 mg/kg) and without additives (SOcontrol) served as positive and negative controls, respectively. The frying stability was monitored over time by estimating the levels of conjugated dienes, total polar compounds, polymeric compounds viz., triglyceride polymers, dimers, oxidized triglyceride monomers, diglycerides and free fatty acids, and induction period based on Rancimat. Chemometric tools were used to classify the oil samples based on frying stability. Thermo-oxidative changes were reduced significantly for blends stabilized with ROSM and AP (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) distinguished SOBs from positive controls. A formulation consisting of 1309.62 and 129.29 mg/kg of ROSM and AP, respectively, was optimized using a hybrid PCA-RSM approach.