Evaluation of the volatile fraction, pungency and extractable color of different Italian Capsicum annuum cultivars designed for food industry

The volatile fraction investigated by means of HS-SPME/GC-MS technique, the extractable color in terms of ASTA units, and the pungency measured on the Schoville scale of different experimental Capsicum annuum powders, designed for food industry, were evaluated in this study. In particular, six Capsicum annuum cultivars were included; fresh fruits were cultivated, harvested, dried and grinded to obtain different chilli powder samples that were analyzed and compared with an additional sample purchased from the market. Extractable color ranged between 36.9 +/- 1.5 and 144.2 +/- 0.8 ASTA units, while pungency was from 999 +/- 42 to 47,814 +/- 971 SHU units, showing an inverse trend between these two parameters. The volatile fraction of samples resulted to be composed of 64 volatiles belonging to different chemical classes among which terpenes and pyrazines were the most represented ones. The differences and similarities among the chilli pepper varieties were visualized by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as by Heat Map analysis.