Effect of dehydration temperature on physico-chemical properties and antioxidant capacity of goldenberry (Physalis peruviana L.)

Abstract

Consumers are health conscious in order to have a nutritious diet leading to an increase of fruits intake due to their bioactive compounds. To prolong the shelf-life of fruits, dehydration is widely used In this work, the effect of convective dehydration on physico-chemical properties, color, vitamin C, -carotene, total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoids and antioxidant capacity during dehydration of Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) fruits in the range 50-90 ºC was investigated. Chromatic parameters (L*, a*, b*) as well as Chroma and Hue angle were affected by drying temperature, which contributed to the discoloring of the fruits during this process. TPC, flavonoids and -carotene increased at 90 ºC from 321.05-356.68 mg gallic acid 100 g-1 dm, 99.25-144.29 mg quercetin equivalents 100 g-1 of dm and 722.30-783.16 mg 100 g-1 sample, respectively. The radical scavenging activity showed higher antioxidant activity at high temperatures rather than at low temperatures. Both, vitamin C content and TPC decreased as air-drying temperature decreased. A high correlation between TPC and flavonoids with antioxidant capacity of the fruits was observed. Based on these results, this fruit is a potential candidate to develop new functional products.