Total phenolic contents of hot peppers were analyzed using the modified Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method as described elsewhere . About 0.5 g of the sample was macerated in 3 mL 80% aqueous acetone with a mortar and pestle. The extracts were placed into tightly-sealed micro-tubes and maintained in darkness at 4 °C overnight. Samples were centrifuged at 1000 rpm for 2 min. A mixture of 135 μL H2O, 750 μL 1/10 dilution Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) and 600 μL 7.5% (w/v) Na2CO3 was added to 50 μL of extract in 1.5 mL micro-tubes. After vortexing for 10 s, the mixture was incubated at 45 °C in a water bath for 15 min. Samples were allowed to cool to room temperature before reading the absorbance at 765 nm using the IRMECO UV-Vis spectrophotometer Model U2020. A blank was prepared from 50 μL 80% aqueous acetone. The gallic acid standard curve was prepared from freshly-made 1 mg/mL gallic acid (Acros Organics, Geel, Belgium) in 80% aqueous acetone.