An antioxidant of dried chili pepper maintained its activity through postharvest ripening for 18 months.

The antioxidant properties of hot-water extracts from a dried chili pepper were maintained through the postharvest ripening process at 10 degrees C for 18 months. In order to isolate the antioxidant from the ripe pepper, we fractionated hot-water extracts by size-exclusion gel chromatography. A certain fraction showed antioxidative activity via the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity assay.