FACTORS AFFECTING STABILITY OF COLORED SUBSTANCES IN PAPRIKA POWDERS

A study was undertaken to investigate the change in carotenoid pigment as well as natural effective antioxidant content of paprika during fruit ripening and storage period of the ground products. By means of modern analytical procedure, paprika fruit was found to contain alpha-tocopherol in the pericarp and gamma-tocopherol in the seeds. Ascorbic acid approached maximum level when the fruit turned red and then declined. Both antioxidants when added to the ground products have substantially reduced color impairment occurring during storage. The color degradation was estimated after 150 days of storage to be 27%, 20%, and 15% at ambient storage conditions and 15%, 13%, and 5% under refrigeration in untreated, delta-tocopherol-treated, and ascorbic acid-treated powders, respectively. Among different paprika cultivars the seeds of F-03 (hot) showed the highest level of tocopherol content, and the powder of such cultivar showed the lowest degradation of carotenoid pigments during storage.