Natural Extraction of Pungency

Abstract: Chilli extract is used in the food industry for multiple applications, such as a flavour for hot sauces or spicy chocolates. The demand for organic products has grown in the recent years, while changes in demography make it necessary to obtain and aroma that can fulfil the market needs. Hence, the purpose of this project was to develop an extraction method to obtain an organic and halal chilli extract and a quantification method to further establish the spiciness of the aroma. Dried and cut chilli fruits were introduced with different ethanol/water solvent mixtures at 65°C with magnetic stirring for one hour. In order to quantify the capsaicinoids, HPLC was the method used. The mobile phase used was a gradient of water/methanol and ethyl paraben was employed as internal standard. The results showed that capsaicinoids were unevenly distributed in the different parts of the chilli peppers, where the amount found was 37 times higher in placenta than in pericarp. Solvent mixtures >20% ethanol increased the extraction ethanol was used it was evaporated and this process did not affect the capsaicinoid content. Around 90% of the total capsaicinoids extracted in one hour were obtained in the first 20 minutes, but the same fruit was not depleted after two extraction cycles. Hence, these results could be used as a basis to further investigate a two-step counter-current extraction to use the least amount of solvent possible and reduce the extraction time.