Color and β-carotene Content in Sweet Potatoes, Raw and Cooked, Stored in Uruguay

Abstract

In Uruguay, the sweet potato (Ipomoea batata, Lam.) is a commonly used vegetable in the diet of the population. In the last ten years there has been a change in the varieties available in the market with different agronomic, conservation and quality characteristics, being of interest to revalue the local production from the nutritional point of view. The aim of this work was to study the evolution of specific gravity, total soluble solids, pulp color (L *, Hue, Croma), dry matter and β-carotene in raw and cooked pulp of five cultivars of sweet potatoes. The genetic material evaluated in four moments of conservation (April, June, July and September) were INIAArapey, Beauregard, INIAE9227, MoradaCRS and MoradaBlanco. INIAE9227 and Beauregard varieties (organge pulp), when cooked, had the highest content of β-carotene during the study period (12.17 and 8.59 mg/100 g fresh weight respectively). The other cultivars, with values ranging from 0.20 to 0.34 mg β-carotene /100 g fresh weight, did not differ among themselves when cooked. There was high correlation (r = 0.89) in cooked samples between orange tone and content of β-carotene. An intake of 100 g of cooked orange pulp cultivars, Beauregard and INIAE9227, would provide at least 80% of the daily requirement of β-carotene of and adult and 1.7 to 2.5 times the daily requirement of a child.