The influence of post-harvest ripening conditions of pepper Aleva NK picked
in red maturity stage on the composition of volatiles in spice paprika was
investigated by GCMS. The post-harvest ripening in the dark and under
daylight was conducted under semicontrolled conditions for two weeks. The
obtained chromatograms indicated that the aroma of investigated spice paprika
consisted of a large number of volatile compounds regardless of the
application and conditions of the post-harvest ripening. The main volatiles
of the analyzed paprika samples were fatty acids and their esters, terpenes
and terpenoides and aldehydes and ketones. The share of fatty acids and their
esters decreased during the post-harvest ripening, and the ripening in the
dark favored the decrease. The share of terpenes and terpenoides and the
share of aldehydes and ketones in the total volatiles increased during the
post-harvest ripening. The post-harvest ripening in the dark favored the
increase of the share of terpenes and terpenoides, while the ripening under
daylight favored the increase of the share of aldehydes and ketones.