Fresh, oven-dried and freeze-dried preparations (0.5 g dry
weight) were extracted using a biomass:solvent loading of 15%
(w/v) based on the initial moisture content of the pepper samples/parts.
Sample and solvent mixtures were homogenized in
50ml conical glass tubes and placed in a shaking water bath
(50 ◦C). Samples were taken every 20min for a period of 1 h.
Preliminary studies indicated that capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin
yields were not significantly different at times beyond
1–24 h. Samples were processed by vacuum filtration (Whatman
GF/A glass fiber filters, 1.6m) and stored at −20 ◦C (2ml
aliquots) until HPLC analysis.