Quantitative determination of ascorbic acid content in some fruit peels obtained in Ado-Ekiti by redox titration

Abstract

Fruits contains peels which are discarded when these fruits are being consumed. The research work was based on quantitative determination of Ascorbic acid (AA) contents of six different fruit peels purchased from local market of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. The procedure and the calculation is based on iodometric titration where dark blue complex forms in the presence of starch. The ascorbic acid contents of the fruit peels studies were grape, lemon, watermelon, orange and pineapple. The results showed that fruit peels from pineapple (22.7gcm-3) has the highest amount of ascorbic acid/ vitamin C which means that the wasted parts of some fruit peels most especially pineapple peels contain appreciable amount of vitamin C. Therefore, prudent use of by-products from the wasted part of some fruits can also be helpful to achieve daily recommended dose of vitamin C and at the same time assist in waste management and pollution control.