LAUSR

Abstract Besides sensorial assays for quantifying pungent components in chilies, nowadays mainly HPLC methods focus on the determination of individual capsaicinoids. Compared to HPLC, ultra-highperformance chromatography (UHPLC) enables shorter runtimes and enhanced resolution. Thus, the aim of this work was to establish a rapid UHPLC method for the determination of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin, the most powerful pungent capsaicinoids found in chili fruits. The developed UHPLC method features a significantly reduced separation time (1.7 min) and high chromatographic resolution, hence presenting a feasible approach for high-throughput pungency profiling. Compared to UV, fluorescence detection showed superior sensitivity with a limit of quantification for capsaicin of 0.160 μg g −1 and 0.175 μg g −1 for dihydrocapsaicin and proving suitable for analysing even very low pungency chili products. Moreover, to investigate the massive variability between chilies, typical varieties that were grown in Austria were characterized for their intrinsic pungency, with total capsaicinoids amounts ranging from 213 μg g −1 for Jalapeno to 28200 μg g −1 dry weight for ‘Bhut Jolokia’. Moreover, analyses of different fruit compartments showed tremendous deviation between the pericarp and the placenta with seeds.