Fruit of Mandacaru: Kinetics of Drying and Physical-Chemical Characterization

Abstract

The drying of the mandacaru fruit consists in an alternative way to reduce loss during its harvest and therefore minimizes its waste. The objective of this study was to physicochemically characterize the mandacaru fruit both fresh and dehydrated in an air circulation oven using three drying temperatures (40, 50 and 60 ºC), related to the water content, water activity, pH, acidity and phenolic compounds. Three empirical mathematical models were used to describe the drying (Henderson and Pabis, Midilli and Page). The Midilli’s model had the best statistical indicators, fitting better to the experimental data. The fresh fruit showed water content of 82.75%, water activity of 0.986, titratable acidity of 0.18%, pH of 4.35 and phenolic compounds of 28.35 mg.100-1g. The parameters luminosity (L), intensity of red (+a), yellow intensity (+b), hue angle (hº) and chromaticity (C*) were respectively equal to 59.84±0.08; 5.72±0.06; 89.25±0.08; 5.72±0.06. The physicochemical compounds of the fruit were influenced by the drying, in which water content was 10.83, 8.31 and 7.56%, and the water activity was 3.99. 3.24 and 2.40 for the temperatures of 40, 50 and 60 ºC, respectively. The highest temperature caused a greater removal of water in the product along the drying. The dried mandacaru pulp showed titratable acidity of 0.41, 4.86 and 4.98%, pH of 4.76, 4.86 and 4.98 and phenolic compounds of 252.26, 156.53 and 196.10 mg.100-1g, and the parameters L (19.72, 23.41 and 26.15), a* (3.13, 1.31 and 1.30), b* (7.31, 6.53 and 9.14), H* (66.79, 78.69 and 81.92) and C* (7.95, 6.95 and 9.23) at the temperatures of 40, 50 and 60 ºC, respectively. The results of the characterization suggest the technological exploitation of the dried mandacaru fruit to add nutritional value to other foods or in the development of new products.

Food Plants in the Caatinga

“…The mandacaru fruit, specifically its pulp, presents in its physical-chemical composition significant values of proteins (1.8-2.35 g/100 g), lipids (1.08-1.98 g/100 g), carbohydrates (9.76-9.86 g/100 g), minerals (0.20-1.30 g/100 g), total soluble solids (TSS; 10.3-14.93 g/100 g), pH (3.73-4.93), titratable acidity (TA; 0.26-0.32 g/100 g), TSS/TA (32.65-50.15), moisture (82.75-90.58 g/100 g), and total phenolic compounds (28.35-326.78 mg EGA/100 g) (Almeida et al 2009;Bahia et al 2010;Melo et al 2017;Moreira et al 2018;Nascimento et al 2011;Santos Neto et al 2019). These differences may be related to the stage of maturation, location, cultivation attributes (such as scarcity of water and soil nutrients), and climatic changes in the year in which the samples used in the aforementioned studies were collected.…”

“…Studies on the mandacaru fruit indicate its potential for exploitation in various technological applications and industrial processes, such as the production of fermented drinks and preparation of dehydrated fruit powder, sweets, jellies, and ice cream (Almeida et al 2006;Almeida et al 2011;Moreira et al 2018;Oliveira et al 2015;Santos Neto et al 2019).…”

Avaliação da casca do fruto e do caule do mandacaru como fontes de compostos fenólicos totais antioxidantes através da obtenção de extratos pelas técnicas de maceração e ultrassom

“…Este resultado foi inferior ao obtido no presente trabalho, cujo valor máximo de extração foi obtido por maceração em metanol 60% sendo de 3.962,14 mg EAG/100 g de casca do fruto do mandacaru expresso em massa úmida. Melo et al (2017) [32] realizaram a extração de fenólicos totais em polpa do fruto mandacaru maduro com metanol 50% mantendo em repouso por 1 h, separando o sobrenadante, seguido pela extração do resíduo com acetona 70% mantendo em repouso por 1 h, e obtiveram 223,22 mg EAG/100 g massa fresca; Moreira et al (2018) [33] obtiveram 252,3 mg EAG/100 g no extrato aquoso da polpa de mandacaru seca à 40°C mantido em repouso por 1h. Também os valores encontrados na polpa de mandacaru por estes pesquisadores foram inferiores aos encontrados no presente trabalho na casca do fruto do mandacaru.…”

Pasteurização da polpa e da casca do fruto do mandacaru (Cereus jamacaru)

“…O mandacaru pode atingir até 10 metros de altura e possui um tronco que pode atingir 60 cm de diâmetro, com muitas hastes verticais, formando um topo compacto. Na estação seca, o caule é cortado e os espinhos queimados para serem utilizados como alimento para o gado, devido à capacidade de armazenar grandes quantidades de água (Zara et al, 2012;Moreira et al, 2018).…”