Estabilidade de compostos potencialmente bioativos e alterações de qualidade em frutos e produtos de pimenta (Capsicum spp.)

Abstract

Capsicum spp., part of the Brazilian biodiversity and cultural richness, are grown all over the country having a huge variety of colors, flavors, size and pungency. Embrapa Temperate Climate - Pelotas, in order to conserve and characterize the variability of Capsicum, maintains an active germplasm bank of Capsicum (BAG). The peppers are used fresh or processed. Therefore many of these genotypes require evaluation of quality attributes and potential for use in food products. During processing, a reduction in the content of bioactive compounds, due to their instability to technological processing conditions, can consequently reduce their antioxidant capacity, and also interfere with sensory characteristics. The present study aimed to characterize pepper Capsicum spp. accessions for technological purposes and to evaluate the stability of potentially bioactive compounds. The content of phenolic compounds in fresh pepper fruit ranged from 52.45 mg.100g -¹ (P259) to 21.20 mg.100g -¹ (P27) of gallic acid equivalents. The total carotenoid content ranged from 0.64 mg.100g -¹ (P259) to 40.26 mg 100g -¹ (P115) of β-carotene, the content of L-ascorbic acid from 158.38 mg 100g -¹ (P22) 18.86 mg.100g -¹ (P115) and total capsaicinoids content from 0.024 mg.100g -¹ (3,93 SHU) in accession P27 to 1734 mg.100g -¹ (279.174,27 SHU) for the P247 accession. For pepper products, losses and increments in the content of bioactive compounds were observed influenced by the type of processing and the initial characteristics of the fresh fruit (mainly for jelly and lollipops when compared to the content of the fresh fruit). Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) reduction was 81.62% for the pickled pepper P259, and total phenolics content of pickled pepper P115 was 5 times lower when compared to the fresh fruit. The processing of pickled, dehydrated and pepper sauce promoted the increase in the levels of total carotenoids. The sensory analysis of the products revealed that consumers of pepper in Pelotas/RS prefer products medium pungency and red color.