Forest conservation and food production: cookies based on jatoba flour

Abstract

The tropical forests in Brazil are going through a deforestation cut every year due to its replacement for activities mainly linked to livestock and modern agriculture, so for forest conservation it is necessary the valorization and valuation of forest products. In this way, this research was based on the utilization of the jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril L.) flour to produce "cookie-like" cookies. After the chemical characterization of the jatoba flour, cookies were elaborated with fortified wheat and jatoba flours. The cookies were evaluated in their physical, chemical, and sensorial characteristics. The moisture content of all the cookies (traditional, chocolate, coconut, and coffee) was not below 5%. The protein values of the coconut and chocolate flour obtained the highest contents (5.9%), followed by the jatoba flour with coffee (5.8%) and with contents (5.5%) for thetraditional jatoba flour. The pH values of the jatoba flours ranged from 6.48% for coconutflour, to 7.23% for traditional flour. The pH values of the flours presented differences among themselves, the jatoba flour fortified with coffee presented the lowest pH value. Concluding that the elaboration of the products allowed to prove that a level of addition of up to 5% of jatoba flour in cookies which was well accepted by the evaluators, obtaining sensorial acceptance. Thus, the results show an innovative product using the jatoba to produce foods rich in fiber and protein, which values the species and its conservation in natural environments.