Maya Alballat^1*, Antoun Youssef¹ and Budour Ajib¹

1 College of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Homs University, Homs, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Maya Alballat: mayaalballat@gmail.com, ).

Received: 3/ 8/ 2025      Accepted: 9/ 12/ 2025 

Abstract

This research was conducted in the Food Chemistry, Storage, and Refrigeration laboratories of the Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, at Homs University. The study was carried out from mid-September 2024 to mid-January 2025. In this research, pepper paste was produced by heating pepper juice using a hot surface at a temperature of 90 C until a concentration of 25 Brix was achieved, after which 5% sodium chloride (NaCl) was added. Subsequently, the samples were stored at room temperature (20–30 C) using three types of packaging: glass containers, plastic containers, and aluminum bags. The storage period lasted for four months, during which changes in the following parameters were studied: Brix, total acidity, pH, beta-carotene content, total phenols, and total ash. The results demonstrated the superiority of glass containers in preserving the characteristics of the pepper paste, followed by aluminum bags, and then plastic containers. However, statistical analysis indicated the potential use of aluminum bags as an alternative to glass containers for preserving pepper paste, due to their advantageous properties such as effective insulation, impermeability, light weight, and lower cost compared to glass containers. After four months of storage, the values recorded in the glass containers were as follows: Brix (25.78%), total acidity (1.61%), pH (4.61), beta-carotene (2.12 mg/100g), total phenols (500.12 mg/100g), and total ash (9.41 mg/100g).

Keywords: Red chili, red chili paste, quality of red chili paste, glass containers, plastic containers, aluminum bags.

 Full paper in Arabic: PDF