ABSTRACT
Color is one of the appearance attributes that mainly in¨uences food quality and acceptance. Due to the consumer preferences for natural foods in the last decades, vegetable colorants have been the subject of many research projects. Ÿe e•ects attributed to some vegetable pigments in the prevention of many chronic and degenerative diseases, which are in relation to their antioxidant
17.1 Introduction 163 17.2 Product Preparation and Stability Studies 164
17.2.1 Preparation of the β-Carotene-Rich Carrot Pulps 164 17.2.2 Stabilization of the Carrot Pulps 164 17.2.3 Color Stability Studies 165 17.2.4 Microscopic Studies 165
17.3 Results 166 17.3.1 E•ect of Transparency and Surface Phenomena on
Luminosity 166 17.3.2 Microstructural Aspects of the Dehydrated Samples 167 17.3.3 Correlation between β-Carotene Retention and Color
Functions 168 17.4 Concluding Remarks 169 Acknowledgments 169 References 169
properties, have also promoted several studies (Krinsky et al. 2003, Moeller et al. 2008). Carotenoids are a type of natural pigments which proved to develop antioxidant action. Among carotenoids, β-carotene and lycopene are some of the most studied. Carrot is an important source of the ¤rst, whereas tomato and watermelon are the sources of the second.
