The effect of different cooking methods on phenolics and vitamin C in developmentally young potato tubers

Abstract

New potatoes (also known as "baby potatoes") are harvested at a young developmental age and have higher concentrations of some phytonutrients than mature tubers. Assessing the potential of new potatoes in the diet and their suitability as targets for further nutritional enhancement requires knowledge of how well targeted phytonutrients survive cooking. New potatoes from the cultivars 'Piccolo,' 'Bintje' and 'Purple Majesty' were microwaved, baked, boiled, steamed or stir-fried. LCMS analysis showed that total phenolics, chlorogenic acids, flavonols and vitamin C did not significantly decrease after cooking by any of these methods. Cooking typically resulted in an increase in the recoverable amounts of these compounds, with chlorogenic acid increasing from 2.14 to 2.92 mg/g DW and rutin from 7.4 to 13.2 μg/g DW after baking in 'Purple Majesty.' Supporting this finding is that antioxidant capacity showed similar results with Trolox equivalents increasing from 28.7 (raw) to 36.3 μmol/g DW after baking in 'Bintje.' These data suggest that new potatoes present an opportunity to more fully utilize the nutritional potential of potatoes. This work shows that significant loses of phenolic acids, vitamin C, and flavonols need not occur during cooking and confirms that these are viable targets to further increase by molecular or breeding approaches. © 2010 Potato Association of America.