Influence of ripening and astringency on carotenoid content of high-pressure treated persimmon fruit (Diospyros kaki L.)

Rojo Brillante is an astringent variety of persimmon fruit that needs a de-astringency treatment (95% CO2/20 °C/24 h) before commercialisation to improve its sensorial quality. This fruit is a good source of bioactive compounds, such as carotenoids. Effects of high-pressure processing (HPP) (200–400 MPa/25 °C/1–6 min) on carotenoid content of astringent and non-astringent persimmon fruits at two maturity stages (III and V) were studied. With regard to control samples, non-astringent fruits at maturity stage V, showed the highest carotenoid content and vitamin A value. In general, HPP at 200 MPa produced a statistically significant increase in extracted carotenoid content for astringent samples (up to 86% and 45% at maturity stages III and V, respectively), whereas no significant differences or even a decrease was observed for non-astringent ones or those treated at 400 MPa. HPP of astringent persimmon fruit at 200 MPa/25 °C/6 min showed the best result in terms of carotenoid extractability. Therefore, HPP could be a useful tool to produce an improvement on the extraction of potentially health-related compounds and, in consequence, to modify their bioaccessibility.