Antioxidant Vitamin Contents of Capsicum Annuum Fruit Extracts as Affected by Processing and Varietal Factors

The presented work defines the influence of technological process on chemical composition of peppers. The technological treatments made in this work were: lyophilization and samples evaporation. Evaporation process was conducted in two conditions of temperature and pressure: I – 35°C and 70 mbar, II – 50°C and 400 mbar. The working material consisted of four pepper cultivars, two sweet: ‘King Artur’ and ‘Red Knight’, and two hot: ‘Capel Hot’ and ‘Robustini’. The changes of vitamins C and E, β-carotene, xanthophylls and phenolic compounds were investigated as processing and cultivar factors. Additionally antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds was evaluated by method with DPPH radical. The extracts prepared in conditions I had a significantly higher concentration of vitamin C, E, β-carotene, total phenol and antioxidant properties than the extracts obtained at the higher temperature and under the higher pressure. It was found that extracts obtained from hot fruits had a higher vitamin E and β-carotene contents than from the sweet ones. However, the extracts from sweet varieties were characterized by higher antioxidant properties and phenolic compounds than the ones obtained from hot peppers.