Abstract

GARCIA DE MOIZANT, Milaidi de las Rosas et al. Vitamin C contents in two types of mulberries during the mellowing process. Acta bioquím. clín. latinoam. [online]. 2015, vol.49, n.3, pp.329-334. ISSN 0325-2957.

Citrus fruits provide ascorbic acid-(AA), also known as vitamin C, to the body, which results profitable for the health due to its antioxidant role. The AA contained in fruits seems to be affected by the mellowing process. This study has the purpose to investigate the L-ascorbic acid (AA) content in cultivated mulberries-( Cm) and sylvan mulberries-(Sm) during the mellowing process. They were obtained from El Valle, Merida State , Venezuela. Mulberries’ mellowing process was qualified in stages: green-(gm), green-half-ripe-(ghrm), half-ripe-  (hrm), red-(rm), mature-(mm) and over-matured-(omm). The AA was quantified in mg/100 g in 5 samples of 20 g each and for mellowing stage, determining AA for triplicate for each filtered sample using the colorimetric method described for the Committee on Nutrition for National Defense (USA). Statistics significances were calculated for the "t" student method (p<0.01). In both groups, the AA contents increased significantly during the mellowing process until rm stage. Then, it experienced a significant decrease. The AA content in Cm surpassed Sm significantly in all the studied stages, except for gm and ghrm. Consumption of mulberries as rm and mm is suggested due to their bigger AA content as fresh juices or batter, immediately after their extraction.

Keywords : L-ascorbic acid; Cultivated mulberries; Sylvan mulberries; Ripeness.