Anthocyanin Composition of the Purple Sweet Potato Cultivar ‘Churakanasa’

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We investigated the anthocyanin composition of the purple sweet potato cultivar ‘Churakanasa’. The color tone of the paste was compared by L*, a*, and b* values and ‘Churakanasa’ exhibited a lower b* value, which indicates a bluish tint, than ‘Churakoibeni’, a popular cultivar for paste processing in Okinawa. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the pigment extract showed that the anthocyanin composition of ‘Churakanasa’ was quite different from that of ‘Ayamurasaki’ and ‘Churakoibeni’. The analysis of the aglycone composition revealed that the cyanidin content (%) of ‘Ayamurasaki’ and ‘Churakoibeni’ contained 19.2% and 22.6% of cyanidins and 80.8% and 77.4% of peonidins, respectively. These findings indicate that these cultivars belong to the peonidin type. In contrast, ‘Churakanasa’ contained 86.4% cyanidin, indicating it to be a cyanidin-type cultivar. The steamed sweet potato paste made from ‘Churakanasa’ (cyanidin type cultivar) exhibited a bluer color compared to the peonidin-type cultivars. This observation suggests a direct correlation between the higher cyanidin content and the blue color intensity of the paste. HPLC-MS analysis of the two major HPLC peaks (peak I and II) of ‘Churakanasa’ suggested that the substance in peak I was YGM-0c; cyanidin-3-p-hydroxybenzoyl sophoroside-5-glucoside by mass, whereas peak II was YGM-1a; cyanidin-3-caffeoyl-p-hydroxybenzoyl sophoroside-5-glucoside. ‘Churakanasa’ exhibits unique color and pigment characteristics as it is the only purple sweet potato cultivar that has YGM-0c and -1a as its primary pigments.