Produção de doce em pasta de araçá (Psidium cattleianum).

Abstract

The araçá (Psidium cattleianum) is a highly perishable tropical fruit, deteriorating in a few days, thus hindering the commercialization of this fruit in natura form, which results in the waste of a large part of its production in the areas where it is produced of wild form. The objective of this work is to develop an araçá sweet for added value and to give technological viability to sweet, since it is a little known fruit. The biological activities that are related to the araçá are attributed, mainly, to its chemical composition, considering that the fruit has high nutritional value, besides bioactive compounds, being also known to be a source rich in vitamin C and have a high amount of phenolic compounds that have antioxidant capacity and act to protect biological systems against excess free radicals and reactive oxygen species. As fruit consumption increases in the processing industry, high amounts of solid by-products such as husks and bagasse are generated. These are the result of the removal of parts, before or during the processing, or the fruit classification step, which can amount to about 60% of the total weight of the raw material. The araçá for the production of the sweet paste was harvested in mature stage, suitable to reduce the waste. At the time of fruit selection, it is observed that the higher moisture content is found in the pulp, due to the transfer occurring during the ripening of the bark into the fruit, due to the osmotic exchange. As a result, it is understood that the araçá has shown to be an economically viable fruit, its paste paste of easy development, low cost of production, and economic potential for insertion in the market.