Effect of peeling and three cooking methods on the content of selected phytochemicals in potato tubers with various colour of flesh

► Potato cooking treatments reduced contents of ascorbic and chlorogenic acids. ► Potato peeling/boiling reduced total glycoalkaloids, α-chaconine and α-solanine. ► In red- and purple-fleshed potatoes cooking treatments increased total anthocyanins. ► Peeling/boiling compared with baking and microwaving has proved to be favourable. The impact of peeling and three cooking treatments (boiling, baking and microwaving) on the content of selected phytochemicals in white-, yellow-, red- and purple-fleshed potatoes was investigated. Ascorbic acid and chlorogenic acid contents were determined by HPLC-DAD, total anthocyanin content by pH-differential spectrophotometry, glycoalkaloid, α-chaconine and α-solanine contents by HPLC-ESI/MS/MS. All cooking treatments reduced ascorbic and chlorogenic acid contents, total glycoalkaloids, α-chaconine and α-solanine with the exception of total anthocyanins. The losses of ascorbic and chlorogenic acids were minimised with boiling and total anthocyanin levels retained the highest. Boiling of peeled tubers decreased contents of total glycoalkaloids (α-chaconine and α-solanine) and appeared as the most favourable among the three tested methods. Moreover, due to higher initial levels, red- and purple-fleshed cultivars retained higher amounts of antioxidants (ascorbic acid, chlorogenic acid and total anthocyanin) after boiling and may be healthier as compared with white or yellow cultivars.