Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 European Food Research and Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-020-03548-2 ORIGINAL PAPER LC‑DAD/ESI MS/MS characterization of fresh and cooked Capia and Aleppo red peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) phenolic profles Hasim Kelebek 1  · Onur Sevindik 1  · Turkan Uzlasir 1  · Serkan Selli 2 Received: 14 April 2020 / Revised: 18 June 2020 / Accepted: 20 June 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract Peppers are one of the most widely processed and consumed vegetables in the world. The present study was established to obtain phenolic profles of two fresh and oven-cooked pepper cultivars, red hot Aleppo (Capsicum annuum L.) and red sweet pepper Capia (Capsicum annuum L.). Phenolic extracts of pepper samples have been, for the frst time, qualitatively and quantitatively examined by liquid chromatography including tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Apart from the main objective, samples were also examined for their colour alteration regarding the oven cooking process. A total of 20 phenolic compounds were identifed and quantifed in the red pepper samples. The revealed results showed that the hot Aleppo pepper possessed a much higher phenolic content when compared to Capia peppers. In the Aleppo pepper samples, capsaicin, luteolin 6,8-di-C-hexoside, luteolin O-malonylpentosyldihexoside, luteolin 6-C-hexoside, dihydrocapsaicin, and kaempferol pentosyldihexoside were the most dominant phenolics, while luteolin O-(aposylmalonyl)glucoside, luteolin O-malonylpentosyldihexoside, kaempferol pentosylhexoside, and feruloyl hexoside were for the Capia samples. In the Aleppo samples, capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin were compounds that signifcantly increased due to the cooking process. The cook- ing process not only positively afected the phenolic profle of pepper samples but also the colour, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity. Keywords Red pepper · Aleppo · Phenolic compounds · Capsaicin · Antioxidant activity · LC–MS/MS Introduction Peppers (Capsicum spp.) belonging to the Solanaceae fam- ily are one of the most produced and consumed vegetables worldwide. Pepper species are commonly distinguished by their hotness, colour, shape, and area of usage. Although they are generally consumed fresh, cooked, or in powder form, there exists plenty of pepper-based food products, such as hot sauces, paste, puree, and pickles which are con- tinuously gaining in popularity. For decades, attention has been increasingly drawn to peppers due to their pleasing and peculiar aroma, hot taste, bright colour, remarkable phe- nolics (especially favonoids, capsaicinoids, quercetin, and luteolin), and their high vitamin A, C, and rich carotenoid content [1, 2]. The presence and activity of these precious compounds change with several factors including variety, stage of ripening, feld management, and climate conditions [2]. Among bioactive compounds of peppers, capsaicinoids are known to be marker compounds of red peppers, provid- ing their hot taste. These compounds are typically found much in lower amounts in sweet peppers [3]. In the extant literature, it is cited that these compounds are formed via a condensation reaction between the C 8 –C 13 branched chain fatty acid and the vanillyamide moiety [4]. Capsaicinoids, which irritate the neural crests, are responsible for the heat and pain sensations in the mouth. The Scoville Heat Unit (SHU), a scale that measures the pungency of peppers and several other foods by means of the concentration and vari- ety of capsaicinoids, was previously cited as having mod- erate–high pungency (between 10,000 and 23,000) for the red hot Aleppo peppers [5]. Besides these sensory prop- erties, they also possess pharmacodynamic activities such as stimulating the fow of saliva and gastric juices which provoke the appetite and suppress gastric ulcers [6]. In * Hasim Kelebek hkelebek@atu.edu.tr 1 Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Adana Alparslan Turkes Science and Technology University, Adana, Turkey 2 Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana, Turkey