Potencial nutricional, antioxidante e tecnológico da macaíba.

Abstract

Macaíba is a native fruit from tropical countries like Brazil and has been exploited artisanally. The macaíba pulp is edible, yellow in color, fibrous, with pleasant taste and odor and its almond can also be included in the food. This work aimed to study the nutritional, antioxidant and technological potential of this fruit in order to contribute to the development of new products. For this purpose, macaíba pulp and almond were characterized in terms of their nutritional composition through physicochemical analyzes and their antioxidant capacity through the DPPH, ABTS, FRAP and β-carotene/linoleic acid assays in methanolic, ethanolic, hexane and aqueous extracts, where it was verified that both hád high nutritional quality, being rich in lipids (8.45 g/100 g and 22.66 g/100 g, respectively), carbohydrates and crude fiber (10.83 g/100 g and 39.83 g/100 g, respectively), proteins (1.99 g/100 g and 8.96 g/100 g, respectively) and minerals (K, P, Ca and Mg), besides being sources of phenolic compounds (12.41 g/100 g and 13.49 g/100 g, respectively, aqueous extract), With an interesting antioxidant capacity (41.85 μmol Tx/g and 31.02 μmol Tx/g, DPPH), respectively. The macaíba pulp rheological behavior was evaluated (10-50 °C and 2.5-200 rpm) in viscometer, and the results showed non-Newtonian fluid behavior with pseudoplastic characteristics, being the Mizrahi-Berk model (R² > 0.97 and P < 4.11%) which best described the rheograms. The macaíba pulp was subjected to thin layer convective drying (0.5 cm thickness) at different temperatures (50, 60, 70 and 80 °C). The Page model (R² > 0.99 and DQM < 0.018) the drying kinetics were better described, and the drying condition at 70 °C was the best drying condition to obtain powdered macaíba because it had preserved a greater amount of carotenoids (2.53 g/100 g). Macaíba powder (70 °C) was characterized in terms of physicochemical aspects, hygroscopicity (20, 30 and 40 °C) and storability (25 °C and 35 °C for 90 days), was observed good wettability (Hausner Factor, 1.37), reasonable flowability (Carr Index, 26.95%) and solubility (53.81%), as well as good storage stability, observing considerable losses only for the carotenoid content, acidity, lipids, peroxide index, color and solubility. The adsorption isotherms were considered as type II sigmoids and the GAB (R² > 0.99 and P < 5.63%) and Iglesias and Chirife (R² > 0.98 and P < 6.60%) models had better adjustments. The macaíba pulp was used in the elaboration of ice cream in both the in natura and powder forms, and the almond in the elaboration of water soluble extract, obtaining good sensory acceptance (acceptability index > 70%) for parameters of appearance, color, aroma, texture, sweetness, flavor, overall impression, with notes between 6 and 8 (hedonic scale of 9 points) for ice creams and notes between 7.5 and 8 for the vegetable extract. The ice cream presented a good technological quality, having a 62.2% overrun for the formulation with the in natura pulp and 86% for the formulation with macaíba powder, besides melting starting after 20 min and having complete melting in 75 min and 60 min, respectively. The macaíba almond water-soluble extract flavored with guava presented high water content (81.64 g/100 g), lipids (5.43 g/100 g), carbohydrates (11.31 g/100 g) and proteins (0.97 g/100 g). It can be concluded that macaíba has high nutritional, antioxidant and technological quality, being a potential raw material for the development of new products, especially ice cream and vegetable extracts.