Abstract
The storage stability of carotene prepared from red and green pimentos was investigated as follows. (1) The stability of β-carotene was observed in different solvents which were methanol-ether, methanol-tetrahydrofuran, acetone-ether, and tetrahydrofuran. The best solvent for conserving β-carotene was methanol-ether. β-carotene in acetone-ether was remarkably destabilized by the scattering light in the laboratory. (2) The extracts of carotene from the lyophilized powders of red and green pimentos were preserved for four days at room temperature. The relative stability of carotene from the red pimento was 100% in methanol-ether, whereas that from the green pimento was only 38% in acetone-ether. The results of the preservation of lyophilized powders at 25°C showed a similar tendency to those of the preservation of carotene extracts. The retention of carotene was 82% after preserving the red pimento powder for 80 days, while it was 58% for green pimento powder after 74 days. (3) The model experiment using β-carotene and chlorophyll showed that β-carotene was more stable in an acetone-ether solution containing chlorophyll than in a solution not containing chlorophyll.
