Participation of pepper seed in the stability of paprika carotenoids

The degradation of carotenoid pigments present in dried, milled pepper fruit in the absence and presence of different proportions of seed at 70 degrees C in an oven was studied. The thermodegradation reaction rate was inversely proportional to the percentage of seed in the mixture in a first stage. Beyond that stage, the mixtures with lower proportions of seed lost pigmentation more slowly with increasing reaction time. In taking the experiment as a whole, the value of the reaction rate was inverted, and was higher the greater the amount of seed. The presence of higher seed levels involve the addition of unsaturated fatty acids (mainly linoleic) that are prone to oxidation. Finally, in a mixture representing a commercial paprika, the effect of the presence of some 40% of seed on the degradation of the red and yellow pigment fractions was determined. Paper no. J9145 in JAOCS 76, 1449-1454 (December 1999).