ACTA Scientiarum Polonorum

Abstract: 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.