Análise da aptidão industrial de seis cultivares de maçãs, considerando suas avaliações físico-químicas (Dados da Safra 2001/2002)

Abstract

The apple processing in Brazil is done with fruits that do not reach the standart of quality stablished for commercial purposes, which are named industrial apple. Such a discharge may sometimes represent around 30% of total production, which reached 300.000 metric tons in 2000. In some European countries the processing of apples in order to obtain apple juices and hard ciders utilizes selected cultivars and the indicators of quality are the total contents of acids, tannins and sugars. These components are related to quality and comprehend the criteria of color, taste and flavors, attributes that are involved with the process of purchase by consumers. In this work, samples of apple fruits cv namely Gala, Eva, Rainha, Fred Hough, Imperatriz and Sansa were evaluated concerning attributes such as contents of total soluble solids, total and reducing sugars, sucrose, glucose, fructose, total phenolics compounds and total acidity. It was also considered the relationship of total sugars/ acidity and the relative proportion of glucose, sucrose and fructose. The cultivar Imperatriz fruits showed the highest percentage of fructose (66,3%) and the lowest percentage of sucrose (15,2%). The sugars/acidity ratios of all cultivars were higher than 20, which is the value of cut off for commercial appeal as table fruits, so that all cultivars were classified as of commercial interest. Sansa, Rainha and Imperatriz cultivars showed contets of phenolic compounds higher a 200 ppm and so they have a feature to be explored by the industrial sector.