## 3 Results and Discussion
### Antioxidant Activity
Higher levels of phenolic compounds in mushrooms tend to be correlated with stronger antioxidant activity (Table 2), as reported in a previous study [12]. This relationship suggests that the phenolic compounds present in mushrooms contribute significantly to their antioxidant properties. In general, the fresh-frozen and freeze-dried mushrooms had the highest phenol contents and best antioxidant properties; in some cases, the mushrooms air-dried at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C showed no significant differences from these. In agreement with a previous report [7], drying typically results in a decrease in total phenol content and antioxidant activity in extracts from _F. antarctica_ fruiting bodies, with the highest level of reduction for compounds generally observed at 70 \({}^{\circ}\)C. Natural antioxidants, such as phenolic compounds, are highly susceptible to degradation when exposed to elevated temperatures. When p-hydroxybenzoic acid, the main compound in _F. antarctica_ and _R. patagonica_, undergoes decarboxylation, it loses its bioactive properties such as its antioxidant activity. Thus, the decarboxylation of p-hydroxybenzoic acid can have a direct effect on its antioxidant properties [40]. In concordance with [PERSON] et al. [41], who studied wild edible mushrooms from Poland, our assays showed that hot-air drying can have either a positive or a negative impact on phenolic content and antioxidant activity, depending on the antioxidant assay used or the mushroom species. But, it is noted that the occurrence of negative effects is more common with hot-air drying than with the FD method. In the latter, drying is performed at low temperatures, minimizing thermal damage to heat-sensitive nutrients, therefore making it more effective in maintaining bioactive/antioxidant activities [42]. Among the temperatures used for dehydration, we found that, for _P. ostreatus_, 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C was the best temperature to preserve the contents of phenols and antioxidants as well as color of the samples, while a temperature of 70 \({}^{\circ}\)C negatively affected the TPC [26]. Additionally, an increase in antioxidant activity with drying at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C was observed for _B. edulis_[43]. In other organoleptic evaluation studies, a hot-air-drying temperature of 65 \({}^{\circ}\)C was found to produce a mushroom soup and rehydrated slices of desirable quality that were also acceptable to consumers [44]. Others demonstrated that the total free amino acid content in samples treated with hot-air drying at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C was the highest compared with that of the other dried and freeze-dried samples [23]. The inhibition of DPPH radicals decreased from 69 to 24% for _F. antarctica_ and from 99 to 81% for _R. patagonica_ after drying (70 \({}^{\circ}\)C in comparison with fresh-frozen samples). Regarding the scavenging effects, our results agree with those for _H. erinaceus_, _L. scabrum_[7], _P. colossus_[45], _G. frontosa_[46], _P. ostreatus_, and _A. bisporus_[47], which demonstrated a severe decrease in the ability to scavenge DPPH radicals after drying in comparison with fresh mushrooms. _Ramaria patagonica_ extracts (concentration 5 mg/mL) displayed remarkable scavenging effects on ABTS and DPPH radicals and FRAP and ILP in the range of 81.25-99.31%. The high antioxidant activity of _Ramaria patagonica_ agrees with the findings of previous research [3; 5], which showed that this edible mushroom is one of the best among more than twenty edible Patagonian species according to the results of DPPH scavenging assay, \(\beta\)-carotene bleaching inhibition, inhibition of lipid peroxidation (TBARS), and oxidative hemolysis inhibition assay (OxHLIA). Other _Ramaria_ species, such as _R. aureus_ and _R. botrytis_, proved to have high antioxidant activity [33; 35]. On the other hand, _F. antarctica_ presented comparatively lower antioxidant activity, in agreement with other findings [3; 5], probably due to the low content of total phenolics in the fruiting bodies extracts.