The Effect of Temperature and Polyethylene Plastic Packaging to Quality and Shelf Life of Wild Chili Pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.)
Andi Nur Faidah Rahman*1, Rindam Latief1, Andi Ainun Ni^ma1

1Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University, Makassar 90245, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

E-mail: faidah83[at]yahoo.com

Abstract

Wild chili pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) is a perishable horticultural commodity that is widely consumed fresh or by product. Storage at low temperatures is known to extend the shelf life of chilies, but storage at inappropriate temperatures can cause chilling and freezing injury. However, the effect of chilling and freezing injury to quality of wild chili pepper as raw material for processing is have not known yet. In addition, the effect of additional packaging treatment on the quality of wild chili pepper is also have not known yet. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of storage temperature (10oC and -19oC) and packaging treatment (unpackaged and PE packaged) on the quality and shelf life of wild chili pepper. The design of this study uses a factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications and data tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tested. Parameters observed in this study were capsaicin content, water content, vitamin C content, pH level, total dissolved solids, percentage of weight loss, and color of wild chili pepper. The results of this research showed that wild chili pepper were stored with PE packaged at frozen temperature (-19oC) had long shelf life (80 days) compared to chilling temperature (10oC) treatment had shelf life (30 days), temperature treatments had a significant effect on capsaicin levels- type of temperature and packaging have a significant effect on pH and weight loss- and type of temperature, packaging and their interactions have a significant effect on water content and total dissolved solids. Meanwhile, the type of temperature, packaging, and their interaction did not significantly effect on vitamin C and the color of wild chili pepper.

Keywords: wild chili pepper- temperature- packaging

Topic: Food processing, safety and diversification