## 3 Results and Discussion
### Nutritional Composition of Prunus dulcis Blossoms (PDBs) and Prunus dulcis Blossom Oil (PDBO)
For instance, rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils and contains 10.47 mg/kg of total carotenoids [64], almost 500% (493.98) lower than that found in PDBO. Comparing it to even more well-known and widely consumed oils such as soy and olive oil, TCC was found to be almost the same. Specifically, soy oil contains 64.43 mg/kg, olive oil contains 62.98 mg/kg [65], and PDBO contains 62.19 mg/kg TCC. This substantiates the conclusion that PDBO is a highly nutritious oil, rivaling the well-known olive oil in terms of TCC. Antioxidant Properties of Prunus dulcis Blossom (PDB) Extracts after Three Different Extraction Methods  
As can be seen in Table 3, employing US either alone or coupled with ST results in an increase in the TPC. More specifically, an increase of 15.39 and 23.99% can be observed, demonstrating the pivotal role of ultrasonic extraction in maximizing TPC. In a previous study, 13 edible plants (such as _Petunia hybrida, Pentas lancolate_, and _Cosmos sulphureus_) were evaluated for their polyphenol concentration, with values ranging from 1.47 to 13.08 mg GAE/g fresh weight (fw) [46]. This fact indicates that PDBs, irrespective of the extraction method, are a rich source of polyphenols compared to other known edible flowers. The antioxidant activity of PDBs was assessed using three distinct assays. These included the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, the DPPH radical scavenging assay, and the hydrogen peroxide (H\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{2}\)) scavenging assay. In all three cases, the combination of US and ST seemed to be the most suitable method for ensuring maximum antioxidant activity (at \(p<0.05\)). The blossoms of _Prunus dulcis_ have not been studied extensively. On the other hand, the antioxidant activity of the leaves and the nut has been examined. Several edible flowers have been investigated. For instance, the edible flowers of _Brassica olercea_ and _Brassica olercea_ var. _italica_ show an antioxidant activity, measured by DPPH assay, of 2.71 umol/g and 3.85 umol/g, respectively [66], which is significantly lower than that of PDBs. Meanwhile, the antioxidant activity of the edible flower of Musa ABB was also investigated, using the FRAP method, registering a value of 20.60 umol/g [67], 201.26% lower than that of PDBs. As far as the method of inhibiting peroxide action is \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline
**Technique** & **TPC** & **FRAP** & **DPPH** & **H\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{2}\)** & **L-ascorbic Acid** \\  & **(mg GAE/g)** & **(\(\mu\)mol AAE/g)** & **(\(\mu\)mol AAE/g)** & **(\(\mu\)mol AAE/g)** & **(mg/100 g)** \\ \hline ST \({}^{1}\) & 10.13 \(\pm\) 0.06 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 54.22 \(\pm\) 1.02 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 14.16 \(\pm\) 0.48 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 129.74 \(\pm\) 4.62 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 978.86 \(\pm\) 2.03 \({}^{\text{c}}\) \\ US 2 & 11.69 \(\pm\) 0.13 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 59.61 \(\pm\) 0.2 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 15.56 \(\pm\) 0.72 \({}^{\text{a,b}}\) & 130.57 \(\pm\) 6.84 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 1013.15 \(\pm\) 1.16 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ US + ST \({}^{3}\) & 12.56 \(\pm\) 0.17 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 62.06 \(\pm\) 1.89 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 16.6 \(\pm\) 0.51 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 141.15 \(\pm\) 1.36 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 1047.03 \(\pm\) 0.51 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{1}\) ST, stirring-assisted extraction. \({}^{2}\) US, ultrasound-assisted extraction. \({}^{3}\) US + ST, combined extraction method. Values are expressed as the mean values (\(\pm\)SD) of triplicate determinations, and means within each column with different superscript letters (a-c) are significantly (\(p<0.05\)) different.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Total polyphenols, antioxidant activities (FRAP, DPPH, and H\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{2}\)), and L-ascorbic acid content of _Prunus dulcis_ blossoms, using conventional and green extraction methods. concerned, the antioxidant capacity increased (at \(p>0.05\)) between the ST and US methods by 0.64% and 8.79% compared to the combination of ST and US.