Photoacoustic Monitoring of Absorption Spectrum During the Dehydration Process of pasilla Chili Pepper

Abstract

In this work, the optical absorption spectrum of peppers was monitored by phase-resolved photoacoustic spectroscopy during a dehydration process based on hot-air drying, yielding simultaneous information about changes in the exocarp and mesocarp. Our results show that between all of the dehydration processes of green Capsicum annuum L. variety pasilla peppers, only very small changes occur in the different phase angles, which has been correlated with the small changes in the exocarp thickness. The phase-resolved spectra of mesocarp show more clearly the evolution of the carotenoid compounds with respect to the optical absorption spectrum without phase resolving, due to the last spectrum having a band broadening in that region with more signals convolved. We have shown that not only do the ripened chili peppers produce new carotenoid compounds, but also we are probing that the dehydration process, beginning with the green stage, preserves the nutrimental content, similar to changes that occur in the natural ripening process.