Sustainable Production of Functional Ingredients from Pepper By‐Products: Enhanced Quality and Reduced Drying Time

This study presents a new strategy for the valorization of pepper by‐products. Effects on the convective drying process and quality of pretreatments: pressing with separation of vegetable water (P) and cutting plus pressing (C+P) compared to a control without pretreatments (CTRL) were evaluated and modelled. The objective was to improve process efficiency while preserving the functional quality of the final product. Drying kinetics showed that the C+P pretreatment reduced drying time from 465 min to 335 min, while pressing alone did not significantly affect drying duration. The product obtained exhibited remarkable bioactive properties. TPC values reached in 15.13 ± 0.91a mg GAE g‐1 for CTRL samples and remained significantly higher in pretreated samples (12.62 ± 0.42b mg GAE g‐1 for P, 12.29 ± 0.64b mg GAE g‐1 for C+P), than in commercial paprika (3.91 ± 0.57c mg GAE g‐1); TAC values obtained were 93.13 ± 3.04c mg AAE g‐1 for CTRL, 97.41 ± 1.01b mg AAE g‐1 for P, 97.81 ± 2.09b mg AAE g‐1 for C+P, and 112.46 ± 2.20a mg AAE g‐1 for commercial. These results demonstrate that pepper by‐products can be successfully transformed into a high‐quality ingredient using simple, scalable pretreatments. Which improves drying efficiency and the production of a functional ingredient with enhanced phenolic and soluble dietary fiber content compared with commercial paprika.