Retention of carotenoids in orange-fleshed sweet potato during processing

The retention of carotenoids was studied in the storage roots of ten sweet potato clones possessing different intensities of dark orange-flesh colour in four different processing methods-oven drying, boiling, sun drying and frying. The results indicated that the extent of retention varied with the method of processing. The highest retention was observed in oven drying (total carotenoids 90%-91% and beta-carotene 89%-96%) followed by boiling (total carotenoids 85%-90% and beta-carotene 84%-90%) and frying (total carotenoids 77%-85% and beta-carotene 72%-86%). The lowest retention of total carotenoids (63%-73%) and beta-carotene (63%-73%) was recorded in the sun drying method.