Hot and cold infusions of Brazilian berries: bioactive potential and storage stability

Grumixama <i>(Eugenia brasiliensis),</i> cereja-do-Rio-Grande <i>(Eugenia involucrata)</i> and araçaúna (<i>Psidium myrtoides</i>) are purple-red Brazilian native fruits rich in antioxidants. In this study, different fruit aqueous extractions were made at 22 °C/120 min and 90 °C/7 min, and colour, pH, total phenolic content (TPC), anthocyanin content (MAC) and profile (HPLC-DAD), and antioxidant capacity (ORAC and ABTS) were evaluated. The hot extraction protocol was more efficient in recovering phenolic and anthocyanin compounds. The araçaúna infusion presented the highest TPC (32.61 mg GAE/100 mL) and ABTS (188.70 µmol TE/100 mL), and those from grumixama the highest MAC (11.17 mg C3G/100 mL) and cereja-do-Rio-Grande the highest ORAC (332.70 µmol TE/100 mL). Cyanidin-3-glucoside and delphinidin-3-glucoside were the major anthocyanins in all infusions. After 48 h/4 °C of storage, TPC and anthocyanins loss achieved 7.4% and 40.8%, respectively, evidencing the high degradative anthocyanins’ susceptibility over time. Purple-red fruit infusions, mainly hot infusions, are potential functional foods.