Phytonutrient composition, antioxidant activity and acceptability of muffins incorporated with red capsicum pomace powder.

Enzymatic liquefaction (EL) ensures fast extraction and enhanced recovery of bioactives from red capsicum along with reduced degradation of these compounds remained in the pomace. Hence, red capsicum pomace obtained as byproduct after EL was freeze dried to produce capsicum pomace powder (CP). CP had almost 80% of bioactives (total carotenoids 91.23 ± 2.35 mg/100 g) and antioxidant activity (DPPH 1.61 ± 0.12 µmol TE/g) compared to fresh pomace. CP was further used to develop muffins. Different concentrations (2-10%) of CP were mixed in wheat flour for preparation of muffins. Wheat flour was fortified with CP at different levels (2-10%) and subsequently, effect of CP fortification on height, texture, bioactives and sensory quality of muffins was observed. CP fortification improved the quality in terms of color, flavor and texture. During storage, hardness values (34.42-32.56 N) showed decreasing trend with increase in CP content. Overall, 6% CP fortification was found most acceptable without causing significant change in porosity and crust uniformity of fortified muffins. Thus, present study demonstrated that fortification of muffins with 6% CP as functional ingredient offers an opportunity to develop quality muffins with enhanced antioxidant activity (DPPH 13.04 ± 0.02 µmol TE/g) and total carotenoids (3.46 ± 2.41 mg/100 g).