DRYING KINE TICS AND TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS OF RED JALAPENO PEPPER (Capsicum annuum L.)

In this work, we evaluated the effect of four different drying temperatures on the physical characteristics and phenolic compounds content of red jalapeno pepper. For this, drying kinetics were developed at each tested temperature (55, 65, 75 y 85 degrees C), monitoring the residual humidity. In addition, phenolic compounds and flavonoids content, antioxidant capacity and the profile of phenolic compounds by HPLC/MS-ESI-QTOF were determined before and after the drying process. At all tested temperatures, drying kinetics were best fitted to "Midilli", "Wang" and "logarithmic" models. The effective coefficient of diffusion was dependent on temperature, and an activation energy of 34.66 KJ/mol was determined. The colorimetric parameters were modified, reflecting the appearance of a brown color in dried samples. The content of phenolic compounds, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity remained unchanged during the drying process. We identified 24 phenolic compounds by HPLC-MS: 13 phenolic acids, 2 anthocyanins and 9 flavonoids, which were maintained during drying.