Abstract
Abstract Pequi, murici and sweet passionfruit are typical fruits from Brazilian Cerrado, which stand out for their sensory attributes such as color, flavor and aroma, in addition to their high nutritional value. Their seeds are by-products from the industrial processing of juices, pulps, jellies, and others, and have great exploitation potential due to their high oil content and the presence of bioactive compounds. The present work aimed to evaluate the chemical composition of pequi almonds, and of murici and sweet passionfruit seeds, and also to quantify the total phenolic compounds, carotenoids, anthocyanins and antioxidant activity by the scavenging activity of •DPPH method. Concerning the chemical composition, pequi almonds presented the highest concentration of lipids (50%), followed by sweet passionfruit (30%) and murici seeds (15%). The almonds from pequi fruit showed the greatest content of protein (33.3%) followed by sweet passionfruit seeds (15%), which presented the highest amount of fiber (41.3%). Murici seeds exhibited the highest content of carbohydrates (46.4%). Pequi almonds had the greatest content of the following minerals, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, and sodium, and anthocyanins (14.4 mg CYG/100 g d.b.). Sweet passionfruit seeds presented the greatest amount of calcium, and also had the highest carotenoid content (9 mg/100 g d.b.). Murici seeds showed the highest potential for bioactive compounds, with 404 mg GAE/100 g d.b. and 81% of scavenging activity for the •DPPH. The results demonstrated that the studied seeds have the potential to be sources for new product development, such as oil.
Highlights
Cerrado is a vegetation known as the Brazilian savanna
Prior to analysis the raw material was vacuum dried at 45 °C (48 h) (Tecnal, TE-395, Piracicaba, Brazil), this being the time needed for the samples to reach constant weight
Pequi is a fruit found in regions where the trees receive a high incidence of solar rays, which favors the generation of free radicals, in addition to which both the pulp and the almonds of pequi are rich in lipids (Table 4). These conditions favor the biosynthesis of secondary compounds with antioxidant properties. These results indicate that pequi almonds, and murici seeds are materials with high antioxidant capacity, demonstrating the correlation between total phenolics and antioxidant protection (Kuskoski et al, 2005)
Summary
Cerrado is a vegetation known as the Brazilian savanna. It has great relevance in the Brazilian scenario, constituting the second largest vegetation of the country, occupying around 22% of the national territory (Carrazza & Ávila, 2010; Ratter et al, 1997). Pequi fruit (Caryocar brasiliense Camb) is a very typical fruit found in Cerrado that shows great economic potential It is widely used in cooking, has therapeutic properties, in addition to being a source of oil (Almeida & Silva, 1994), which can be applied in the food and cosmetic industries. It has a drupe with light green bark, it has a spiky endocarp, and both pulp and almond adhered to the core are edible (Ratter et al, 1997). Roesler et al (2010) stated that pequi represents a viable source of natural antioxidant, due to its high free radical neutralization capacity
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