Effect of Four Kinds of Drying Methods on Physicochemical Property and Antioxidant Capacity of Peppers

In order to provide theoretical basis for improving the quality of dried pepper,four kinds of drying methods including freeze drying,sun drying,infrared radiation drying,hot air drying,and their effects on the physicochemical property and antioxidant capacity in peppers were investigated. The results showed that,sun drying,hot air drying,and infrared radiation drying could decrease the physicochemical property and antioxidant capacity to some extent compared to freeze drying,including low color deterioration,increasing of browning degree,degradation of pectin components,decreasing of free amino acid contents and antioxidant capacity. Sun drying had limit effect on the quality than hot air drying and infrared drying. For the peppers treated by sun drying,their color deterioration was lower. Total phenols contents and antioxidant activities were also maintained at high level after sun drying. Otherwise,the degradation degree of pectin was smaller,and the contents of water solute pectin,chelate-solute pectin,and sodium carbonate solute pectin were respectively 22.39 mg GalA/g DW,1.22 mg GalA/g DW,and 16.17 mg GalA/g DW.The contents of free amino acids was 11.860 mg/g DW in sun dried peppers. Hence,comparing to other three kinds of drying methods,sun drying better retained the physicochemical property and antioxidant capacity of peppers and was suitable for pepper drying.