Desenvolvimento de sucos elaborados com polpas de frutas do Cerrado

Abstract

Brazil is the country with the greatest biodiversity, however, many of its fruit species are still unknown, and consequently, are little commercialized. Cerrado represents the majority of this biodiversity, and many of these species provide fruits with high concentration of nutrients and unique sensorial characteristics, many of which are consumed in natura or processed only by the local population. Processing allows to add economic value to the raw materials, transforming perishable products into storable and marketable products. Processing of pulp and fruit juices is an important agro-industrial activity in that adds economic value to the fruit, avoiding waste and minimizing losses that may occur during the marketing of the product in natura, in addition to enabling the producer an alternative use of the fruits. Thus, the aim of this work was to develop a juice produced with Cerrado fruit pulp in order to offer the consumer a unique product, combining the sensory and nutritional characteristics of two or more fruits. Therefore, in the first stage, six Cerrado fruits (strawberry guava, buriti, cagaita, yellow mombin, mangaba and marolo) were characterized with respect to their chemical and sensory properties, as well as quantified as the bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity in order to obtain greater knowledge and subsequent aggregation of value to each of them. In the second part of the study three fruits were selected based on nutritional and sensory data of pure juice from each of them. Then, ten formulations were prepared in accordance with the rule of mixture design. Optimization was based on sensory and nutritional characteristics. At the end of the research, an innovative product was obtained, with greater nutritional value, allowing to obtain a new flavor with good sensorial characteristics. It is believed that the new product can meet consumer demand, as well as being a great way to add value to these fruits.