Samples were prepared as described above (Escarpa & Gonzalez, 2000). The free radical scavenging activity of the extracts was measured using the DPPH (1.1-diphenyl2-picrylhydrazyl) method of Brand-Williams, Cuvelier, and Berset (1995) with some modifications. A 50 ll methanolic solution of each extract (diluted 1:6) was placed in 96-well microplates, and 200 ll of 0.1 mM methanolic solution of DPPH was added and allowed to react in the dark at room temperature. The decrease in absorbance of DPPH at 520 nm was measured in 5 min intervals until the absorbance stabilised (30 min). All samples were analysed in triplicate. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of extracts was expressed as mg of ascorbic acid equivalents per 100 g of fruit (ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity, AEAC) after 30 min reaction time. Determination of AEAC values of the samples at various concentrations was made using ascorbic acid standard curves (Leong & Shui, 2002).