Hot peppers, also known as chilies, are becoming more and more popular in Slovenia and also in the whole world. Not only are chilies increasingly used as a spice, but researchers from various fields are also discovering their beneficial health effects. Various compounds from chilies have an impact on human health and also act as chemical and antimicrobial food preservatives. In this thesis, we have focused on the methanolic extract from chilies, in order to quantify capsaicinoids as a function of drying. We have compared the efficiency of different drying methods of Capsicum chinense cv. 'Habanero' chilly. We carried drying by means of the household dryer and on laboratory lyophilizer. Dried chilli samples had 9.6-12.2 % of water. After drying, we carried out methanol extraction. Methanol extracts were used to determine the antioxidative potential and contents of capsaicinoids. The highest content of capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, and norhydrocapsaicin was determined in lyophilized and grounded sample, followed by lyophilised and classically dried samples. On the contrary, the highest contents of homocapsaicin, and homohydrocapsaicin were found in classically dried samples. We have converted contents of capsaicinoids into Scoville Heat Units (SHU) and came to the conclusion that lyophilized and ground samples had the highest level of pungency: 129,091 ± 16,999 SHU per 100 g of dry weight (6,325 ± 833 SHU per 100 g of fresh weight). The lowest level was detected in traditionally dried samples: 84,313 ± 9,026 SHU per 100 g of dry weight (3.963 ± 424 SHU per 100g of fresh weight). We have noted a similar trend when we determined the antioxidative potential of the extracts. These differences could be the result of heat degradation of capsaicinoids and antioxidants to some degree, but the preparation of the samples before extraction had the key role.
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