Effect of Fruit Weight and Fruit Locule Number in Bell Pepper on Industrial Waste and Quality of Roasted Pepper

Abstract

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), one of the most consumed vegetables worldwide, shows great differences between its diverse varieties. These differences affect the fruit type, size and shape. Food preservation techniques prolong the availability of sweet pepper. Roasted pepper is a product marketed with the European recognition of Protected Geographical Indication ‘Pimiento Asado del Bierzo’. The objective of this work was to analyse the effect of the fruit weight and fruit locule number of the industrial fresh pepper on quality and roasted pepper yield. Large trilocular fruits and large tetralocular fruits reached higher roast yield and uniformity than small trilocular fruits. Regardless of fruit locule number and fruit weight, the overall quality of all the samples of roasted pepper was categorised as very good. Large tetralocular and large trilocular fruits are the most appropriate peppers for industrial purposes, whereas small trilocular fruits should be intended for the fresh product market. This easy method of sorting bell pepper fruit attending to fruit weight will decrease the amount of pepper waste in the industrial roasting process (around 18%), while maintaining the high overall quality of the final product. Moreover, the faster peeling of large peppers will also contribute to increasing the productivity of the industrial processing of roasted pepper.