THE PROCESSING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF RED CHILI PEPPER JAM

Abstract

Red pepper fruit does not have a high added value. Thus, the use of this fruit in the preparation of a jelly is a way of adding value to it. In this study, a process of evaporation was used to make jam from red chili pepper fruit after which a comprehensive characterization of the final product was obtained. Evaporation was carried out under direct fire at atmospheric pressure. The changes in the solution concentration were well fitted by means of an exponential model. During evaporation, the solution boiling point rose up, which most commonly occurs during food evaporation. The jam formulation was (w/w): 100:50:1:0.08 parts of red chili peppers juice (0.2 °Brix), sucrose, pectin and citric acid, respectively. The jam presented the following characteristic: pH of 2.7; soluble solids content of 75°Brix; gel deformation of 3.57%; water activity of 0.71; viscosity of 972.86 mm 2 /s; lightness of 19.54; redness of 7.75; yellowness of 17.39; hue angle of 65.97 (orange); and average sensory score of 7.73. No syneresis was observed after 180 days of storage. Results suggest that the final product from the evaporation of the red chili pepper fruit makes a high quality jam considering its physical-chemical properties, sensory properties and physical stability. This study can be used to design a process to manufacture red chili pepper jam.