Abstract

EVOLUTION OF VITAMIN C AND ANTHOCIANS CONTENT IN FRESH AND PROCESSED BLACKCURRANT FRUITS

Nitu Adriana*, Veringa Daniela, Mohora Angela, Popescu Simona, Vapor Cristina

Abstract

In a healthy diet, fruits are a valuable component and blackcurrants are excellent sources of biocompounds with beneficial properties. These have seen an expansion of organic and conventionally cultivated areas, being highly appreciated for the nutritional and therapeutic value of their fruits. Their consumption supports the immune system, protecting the body against infections. Considering the fact that their availability is only for short periods of time, processing in various forms becomes necessary and of real interest for consumers who can thus benefit from their nutritional qualities and antioxidant potential. The heat treatment applied to obtain the derived products can influence the quantity and stability of these compounds, therefore this paper presents their evolution. Thus, compounds with antioxidant properties (vitamin C and anthocyanins) were analyzed from the processed products in the form of compote, jam and syrup as well as the fresh fruits from which they were obtained. Within the processed products, compote preserves the highest level of vitamin C value and jam preserves that of anthocyanins. The results indicated considerable levels of compounds with valuable properties: vitamin C with values ranging between 50.66 – 173.45 mg/100g and anthocyanins 153.24 - 236.51 mg/100g, which reinforces the fact that blackcurrant is a valuable fruit and can be used as a functional food ingredient in order to expand the range of processed products.

Keywords: anthocyanins, blackcurrant, processing, vitamin C.