Influence of Processing Variables on Phytochemical Content of Dried ‘Nsukka’ Yellow Pepper (Capsicum Annum L)

A study to investigate the effect of drying process variables including added vegetable oil at five different concentrations (3 – 10% (x1)), blanching at five different times (2 – 5 min (x2)) and drying at five different temperatures (50 – 90 0C (x3)) on the phytochemical content of ‘Nsukka’ yellow pepper (Capsicum annum L) was conducted. Dried samples along with the fresh sample were subjected to phytochemical analysis (screening and quantification) for tannin, hydrogen cyanide, flavonoid, phenol, polyphenol, capsaicin and saponin. The screening results showed that tannin, flavonoid and phenol were present at high level (++, +++) while saponin, hydrogen cyanide and polyphenol were slightly detected (+) in dried and fresh samples. For dried samples, results for quantification were as follows: tannin195.71 – 276092 mg/100g, hydrogen cyanide 0.63 – 1.41 µg/100g, flavonoid 409.88 -734.49 mg/100g, phenol 614.19 – 1572.47 mg/100g, polyphenol 85.50 – 119.70 mg/100g, capsaicin 22.46 -36.01 mg/100g and saponin 1.19 – 1.58 mg/100g. Fresh yellow pepper sample yielded 296.21, 1.52, 766.75, 1784.52, 130.65, 46.65 and 1.92 mg/100g for tannin, hydrogen cyanide, flavonoid, phenol, polyphenol, capsaicin and saponin respectively. ANOVA values for response quadratic models indicated significant P-values for tannin, flavonoid, phenol, polyphenol, capsaicin and saponin. Only hydrogen cyanide showed a not significant Lack of Fit among the phytochemicals using model adequacy of (P<0.05) and Lack of Fit (P>0.05). Results obtained from the study revealed processing variables had blunting effect on the phytochemicals under investigation.