Determination of Vitamin C in some Yemeni Citrus and Study of its Stability During Processing and Storage

Our work aims to determine concentrations of Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in 50 samples of some Yemeni citrus such as orange, Mandarin and lemon which were collected in Ibb city, Yemen, also to study the nutritional value depends on the stability of Vit. C during processing and storage by making three products namely Jelly, Jam and Marmalade. The production and analysis carried out in food science and technology department laboratories, Ibb University, Yemen. The results could be summarized as: Content of (Vitamin C) in citrus peels was in highest level in orange, meanwhile the lowest was in lemon by (172.95 and 16.88 mg/100gm). And, Vit. C concentration for citrus pulps was in highest level in orange, meanwhile the lowest was in mandarin by (60.58 and 17.17 mg/100gm). Whereas the content of Vit. C in citrus whole fruits was in highest level in orange, meanwhile the lowest was in mandarin by (86.90 and 20.17 mg/100gm). For the nutritional value and stability of Vit. C during the processing, it was decreased by percentages of (48, 44 and 40%) in Jelly, Marmalade and Jam, respectively. On the other hand, the storage also decreased Vit. C content by percentages of (83, 74 and 19%) in Jam, Marmalade and Jelly, respectively. Whereas the periods of storage were two weeks for Jelly and three months for Jam and Marmalade.