Características físico-químicas e sensoriais de frutos e bebidas de pitaias

Abstract

Pitaias are exotic fruits, from the Cactaceae family, with potential for economic exploitation due to their nutritional components and high commercial value. Thus, as it is a fruit beneficial to health, it can be used for the manufacture of various products such as vitamins (fruit shakes with milk), juices (fruit shakes with water), jellies, ice cream, in addition to being widely accepted for fresh consumption. The objective of this study was to verify the acceptance and preference of consumers of fruits of different species/variety of in natura pitayas and the formulations of juices (fruit shakes with water) and vitamins (fruit shakes with milk). For this, fully ripe harvested fruits were sanitized, selected and separated for analysis. Regarding the analysis of fresh fruits, the following evaluations were carried out: external appearance, flavor, internal appearance, consistency, global impression, skin and pulp firmness, soluble solids, transversal diameter, pulp acidity, pulp pH, fruit weight, pulp weight, peel and pulp color of the fruits by the CIE L*a*b* system (L*, a*, b*, C*, hº). In the case of juices and vitamins, the following evaluations were carried out: flavor, color, consistency, global impression, pH, acidity, soluble solids and coloration by the CIE L*a*b* system (L*, a*, b*, C* and hº). Evaluations of sensory, physicochemical and purchase intention characteristics were carried out in all products in order to quantify consumer preference for the various species of pitayas. In the statistical evaluation of the sensory analysis of juices and vitamins, the Friedman test was used. For the physicochemical analysis of juices and vitamins, Tukey's test at 5% probability was used. The Tukey test at 5% probability was used in the statistical evaluation of the sensory analyzes of the in natura pitayas, while the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for the physical-chemical analyzes of the pitayas in natura. natura, the Colombian yellow pitaia (Selenicereus megalanthus) with white pulp obtained better results in the parameters flavor, consistency and global impression in relation to other species of pythias. Regarding the sensory evaluations of vitamins (fruit shakes with milk) and juices (fruit shakes with water), the red pulp pitta variety Cebra (Hylocereus Costaricensis) obtained greater acceptance by the consumer in relation to the evaluated parameters.