Abstract:

In order to explore the effect of different thermal treatments on the contents of carotenoids in fresh sweet corn,
changes in the contents of common carotenoids in Jingtian 5 corn kernels during branching treatments for producing quickfrozen
corn and during pre-cooking and sterilization for producing canned corn were determined using HPLC. Results
showed that the contents of eight common carotenoids in steam-blanched corn were higher than in boiling water-blanched
corn at the same blanching time point. The carotenoid contents in both blanching treatments decreased with the extension of
blanching time. For canned corn, shortening the pre-cooking time from 20 min to 5 min resulted in higher total carotenoid
contents and a gradual increase in all carotenoids except for α-cryptoxanthin. However, when the pre-cooking time exceeded
20 min, no significant change in the total content of carotenoids was found. After 10 min of sterilization, the total content
of carotenoids significantly increased followed by a great decline with the extension of sterilization time, and similar trends
were observed for changes in the contents of individual carotenoids.

Key words: fresh sweet corn, blanching, pre-cooking, sterilization, carotenoids content