Effects of postharvest curing treatment on flesh colour and phenolic metabolism in fresh-cut potato products

The flesh colour and phenolic metabolism in potato tuber during curing and after cut were investigated. Result indicated that postharvest curing not only changed phenolic metabolism during curing, but also improved fresh-cut colour for 12 days after fresh cut. Significantly lower PAL and higher phenolic content and PPO activities during curing treatment and fresh-cut potatoes were detected compared to the control, which lead to the lower browning in the slices from curing treated potatoes. HPLC analysis revealed that amounts of total phenolics, chlorogenic acid, gallic acid and protocatechuic acid were induced by curing and highly accumulated in the curing treated potatoes. Our results demonstrated that phenolic metabolism played an important role in the control of browning of fresh cut potato after curing.