Postharvest Quality Maintenance of Traditional Serbian Peppers: The Impact of Heat Treatment and Storage Temperature

Traditional Serbian pepper cultivars, prized for their nutritional value and flavor, lack established postharvest practices. The impact of storage conditions and hot water dipping (HWD) at 55 °C for 1 min on the physicochemical properties of ‘Kurtovska Ajvaruša’, ‘Grkinja Babura’, and ‘Duga Bela Ljuta’ (Capsicum annuum L. var. longum) was examined. Peppers were stored at 4 °C (with and without HWD pretreatment) and at 10 °C (without HWD) for 21 days, followed by 3 days of shelf life. The main quality parameters measured included general appearance, weight loss, chilling injury, decay incidence, color, histological characteristics of pericarp, and quinic and succinic acid contents. Storage temperature, duration, and HWD significantly affected the examined parameters. ‘Grkinja Babura’ retained higher water content with lower weight loss (5.2%) at 4 °C, while ‘Duga Bela Ljuta’ showed significant loss (8.7%) at 10 °C after 21 + 3 days. In ‘Duga Bela Ljuta’, both quinic and succinic acid contents increased during cold storage, HWD treatment, and shelf life. In contrast, in ‘Grkinja Babura’ and ‘Kurtovska Ajvaruša’, this trend was observed only for quinic acid, whereas succinic acid content had a decreasing trend. HWD shows potential to stabilize weight loss, preserve general appearance in two cultivars, and reduce chilling injury (to 4.8%), as well as decay incidence (to 3.1%), indicating its potential to maintain quality and marketability of these traditional pepper cultivars. These findings suggest that HDW could have a high potential for sustainable strategies to improve the postharvest quality of traditional pepper cultivars in the region.