Studies on Characteristics and Stability of Anthocyanin Pigment Extracted from Korean Purple - Fleshed Potatoes

Effects of pH, sugar, ascorbic acid, organic acids and light sources on the stability of anthocyanin pigment extracted from Korean purple-fleshed potatoes (PL-6, PL-28, PL-31 and Jasim) were studied. The pH had remarkable influence on the color stability of anthocyanin pigment. With increasing pH, the color gradually fades as colorless pseudobases are formed. In acidic pH, anthocyanin was stable, but with increasing pH the color gradually changed to colorless. The addition of sugar decrease in color stability of the pigment during storage period. The most of organic acids, such as a tartaric, citric and succinic acids, were found to improve the stability of the pigment, while malic and malonic acid reduced the stability of the pigment. The addition of ascorbic acid considerable decreased in anthocyanin pigment stability, but the effect was not decreased by adding thiourea. The effect of light sources such as a darkroom, a fluorescent light, and sunlight, reduced gradually the stability of anthocyanin pigment. Therefore the pigment degradation could be minimized by shielding the light from the pigment.