Suitability of 4 Potato Cultivars (Solanum tuberosum L.) to be Processed as Fresh-Cut Product. Early Cultivars

Abstract

The study of the suitability of potato cultivars to be processed as fresh-cut is the first step to obtain a fresh-cut product of high quality. In this study, 4 different early potato cultivars (‘Ariana’, ‘Liseta’, ‘Safrane’ and ‘Spunta’) were cut and stored for 8 days at 5°C and for 6 days at 20°C with the aim to investigate their browning potential and their post-cutting performance on the basis of their initial quality attributes such as color, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, total phenolics, ascorbic acid contents, sugar composition and antioxidant activity (AOX). In addition, color changes and general appearance were monitored during storage, and a study of the correlations among monitored parameters was carried out. Results showed that ‘Safrane’ had the least color changes and browning incidence. At 5°C, ‘Safrane’ showed only about 1% variation in L*, statistically lower than ‘Spunta’ (3.6%) and ‘Ariana’ (5.1%), and presented the lowest variation in a* value (about 50% vs. 70% for all other cultivars). At 20°C, ‘Safrane’ and ‘Liseta’ showed a lower decrease in L* (5.6 and 6.2%, respectively) and ΔE values, (6.0 and 6.1%, respectively), but ‘Spunta’ and ‘Ariana’ were the cultivars with the highest decrease in these parameters. ‘Safrane’ also received the highest appearance score during the first days of storage at both storage temperatures, and had a high ascorbic acid content (31.2 mg/100 g fw) and antioxidant activity (26.6 mg TE/100 g fw). ‘Liseta’ and ‘Ariana’ showed intermediate potential in terms of storability and appearance, while ‘Spunta’ was the least suitable to be used as fresh-cut. Results of this work contributed to increased knowledge on the suitability of potato cultivars to be processed as fresh cut produce, to allow the fresh-cut industry to be supplied with raw material suitable for processing throughout the year, according to seasonal availability.