Liofilização da polpa de tamarindo (Tamarindus indica L.) para obtenção de sucos reconstituídos.

Abstract

The tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) is a raw material valued throughout the world because of its nutritional components that contribute to human health, however, to make feasible the agroindustrial exploitation of fruits requires studies of technologies that increase their life useful and preserve their bioactive, chemical and sensorial characteristics, the drying by freeze drying an efficient means to obtain such result. In view of the above, the objective of this work was to characterize the pulp of the integral and freeze-dried tamarind in terms of physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters; perform freezing kinetics at -30 ° C; perform frozen storage and room temperature tests; to study the hygroscopic behavior of the samples and to prepare juice formulations using experimental planning and later sensorial analysis of their attributes. The samples were formulated with different concentrations of maltodextrin (0, 10, 15 and 20%) and according to the results, the addition of this adjuvant, as well as, lyophilization drying, promoted modifications in the characteristics studied. Among the most expressive results, it was noticed that the antioxidant activity reduced up to 52.14% after drying, the lyophilized pulps presented high hygroscopicity and excellent microbiological quality. Regarding the freezing kinetics, the thermal stabilization occurred at 12,000 s in the whole pulp, 12,500 s in the 10% pulp, 13,000 s in the 15% pulp and 13,100 s in the 20% maltodextrin pulp. During storage, the pulps did not show significant variations in the water content and ascorbic acid presented degradation of approximately 50% of its initial content, and storage at room temperature revealed increases in water content values up to 31,05%, the powders being considered non-perishable, with high acidity and low pH. On the hygroscopic behavior, the Halsey model was the one that obtained the best adjustments (R2 ≥ 0,971, P ≤ 0,04%, and SE ≤ 1,05x10-3) with sigmoidal curves of type II. Regarding juices, the attributes of color, appearance, aroma and sweetness were in the "mildly liked" hedonic term, the flavor was in the "moderately liked" hedonic term and acceptance rates were greater than 70% classifying drinks as "good acceptance". Key words: Sensory Analysis, Storage, Freezing Kinetics, Kygroscopicity, Maltodextrin.