DESENVOLVIMENTO E AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE DE BEBIDA FERMENTADA ELABORADA COM KOMBUCHA DE CHÁ VERDE (Camelia sinesis) E ABACAXI (Ananas comosus)

Abstract

The development of a new product, with added value and that satisfies the needs of consumers and producers, is fundamental for the advancement of the food and beverage market. The Kombucha as well as the green tea, is used millenarian, with popular allegations to its beneficial properties for the human organism. The objective of this work was to develop a kombucha of green tea and pineapple with different concentrations of fermented tea (20%, 30% and 40%), taking into account the growing interest of consumers for healthy food products and the beneficial effects on human health of the drink. After fermentation for nine days, the samples were subjected to physical-chemical analysis (pH, acidity and soluble solids), microbiological analysis (total count of lactic acid bacteria, molds and yeasts, detection of Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli) sensory quality, and purchase intent. The physico-chemical results showed that the formulation with the highest concentration of fermented tea (40%) was the one with the lowest pH value (3.77 ± 0.01) and highest titratable acidity (9.42 ± 0.11), it is believed that this inverse proportionality is linked to the higher concentration of organic acids coming from the fermentation. Regarding the content of soluble solids, no statistically significant difference (p> 0.05) was observed between the samples. In the microbiological analyzes, the samples showed the absence of Salmonella spp. and E. coli., which testified its hygienic-sanitary quality. The counts for lactic / acetic bacteria and for molds and yeasts were high, however, no significant difference was observed between the samples. The beverages were sensorially analyzed by 82 untrained testers and for all evaluated attributes, except the taste, no statistically significant difference (p> 0.05) was verified between the samples. From the study it can be concluded that all three tested formulations are viable from a technological and sensorial point of view, but despite the fact that in the overall evaluation no significant statistical difference was observed, the sample with the highest score, (p < 0.05) regarding the taste was the sample with the highest concentration of fermented green tea. In this way, other studies may evaluate the behavior of the drink throughout its shelf life and its functional properties.