Effect of drying methods on physico-chemical and bioactive compounds of cornelian cherry

Cornelian cherry is one of horticultural crops in Iran and has different benefits such as nutritional, medicinal value, profitability and export values. In this study samples were dried by two methods. whole fruit and stone-less fruit were exposed to sunlight and whole fruit were dried in oven equipped with fan at 80°C and physico-chemical parameters(pH, acidity, dry matter, ash) andloss of their bioactive compounds (total phenols, flavonoids, total anthocyanin, vitamin C and antioxidant capacity) were investigated. The results showed that generally drying treatments reduced bioactive compounds. Drying samples in oven at 80 °C had greatest loss of anthocyanins (88/6%) in comparison with control sample, and sun-dried whole fruit sample had lowest vitamin C (122 mg/100gd.b ).The sun-dried stoneless sample had lowest antioxidant activity (16/91%). The sun-dried whole fruit sample had lowest amount of total phenols (781 mg/100gd.b ) and the lowest amount of flavonoids were observed in the dried whole fruit.