Estudo da produção e das características físico-químicas do fermentado de caju + umbu-cajá.

Abstract

Brazil is a major producer of fruits of tropical origin, especially cashews and umbu-cajá by the exotic flavor and aroma. One way to add value to fruits and contribute to sustainable development in the Brazilian Northeast is to use surplus fruits as raw material for fermented beverage production. Thus this work aimed to use the cashew and umbu-cajá pulps in preparing the fermented beverage, seeking valorize of these fruits. Initially was performed physicochemical characterization of cashew and umbu-cajá pulps - total soluble sugars, humidity, protein, vitamin C, pH, and total soluble solids; from the pulps mix of cashew + umbu-cajá (80% of cashew and 20% of umbu-cajá) was performed analyzes of total soluble sugars, total soluble solids, pH and vitamin C; study was carried out of the kinetics of alcoholic fermentation in the preparation of fermented beverage using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and physicochemical analysis (SST, AST, pH and ethanol) and chromatographic (ethanol concentrations, volatile substances, methanol and higher alcohols) from the fermented beverage. The alcoholic fermentation was conducted in a bioreactor in batch system, at temperature of 27ºC ± 2ºC. It was assessed cell concentration (X), substrate concentration (S), product concentration (ethanol), total soluble solids and pH over 34 hours of fermentation. The soluble solids level in the pulp of cashew + umbu-caja (10,78 ºBrix) and pH (4,0) was adequate in alcoholic fermentation. The fermented beverage of cashew + umbu-cajá showed a ethanol concentration (10.7ºGL) within the required specifications by Brazilian law, as well as the methanol concentration (57,50 mg/L). The production of fermented beverage is a promising alternative for the use of cashew and umbu-cajá reducing post-harvest losses of the same.