Abstract
Opuntia species exhibit beneficial properties when used to treat chronic diseases, particularly obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer; however, the presence of spines and glochids in the species’ skin that easily stick into consumers’ fingers has limited their consumption. For this study, white and orange Opuntia ficus-indica fruits from the Canary Islands (Spain) were minimally processed, packed in a passive atmosphere, and stored at 7 °C. The effects of peeling (by hand or with an electric peeler) and two micro-perforated films (90PPlus and 180PPlus) were evaluated. Changes in the quality parameters, gas composition, bioactive compounds, sensory features, and microbial safety of fresh-cut prickly pears were examined during 10 days of cold storage. Both varieties, hand-peeled and electrically peeled, were microbiologically safe (aerobic mesophiles < 7 log(CFU/g fresh weight)) and retained suitable nutritional quality after 8 days of storage. The yield was greater when fruits were electrically peeled than hand-peeled (70.7% vs. 44.0% and 66.5% vs. 40.8% for white and orange fruits, respectively). The concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide were above 15% and below 7.5%, respectively, in all the treatments over the shelf life. TSS decreased during storage independently of variety, peeling method, or film. Fructose was the most abundant sugar, followed by glucose and sucrose. The electric peeling machine improved not only the edible part of the fruit but also the contents of bioactive compounds, such as ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.
Highlights
Opuntia fruit, known as cactus pear fruit, prickly pear, tuna (Mexico), higo (Colombia), higo chumbo (Spain), and figue de barbarie (France), is harvested from various species of the genus Opuntia of the cactus family (Cactaceae)
A recent study confirmed that the antioxidants from red, orange, and white prickly pear varieties from the Canary Islands remain stable while traveling through the gastrointestinal tract and can be absorbed by the human body [9]
The times needed by one of the regular consumer panelists to peel the white and orange prickly pear were 11.9 and 8.7 s, respectively, and the times needed by the peeler were 15.1 and 12.4 s, respectively
Summary
Known as cactus pear fruit, prickly pear, tuna (Mexico), higo (Colombia), higo chumbo (Spain), and figue de barbarie (France), is harvested from various species of the genus Opuntia of the cactus family (Cactaceae). Modern consumers are increasingly demanding healthy and ready-to-eat products Taking advantage of this opportunity, the prickly pear could be minimally processed (fresh-cut) to potentially increase its consumption and open new alternatives for its commercialization. The use of bio-materials [14], surface coatings, calcium salt applications, modified atmosphere packaging, gamma radiation, and cold storage are the most used approaches used for quality retention to minimize nutritional losses, sensorial losses, and microbial growth [15] Under these conditions, one can obtain products with similar characteristics to fresh products with a shelf life of 7–10 days such as pineapple [16], kiwifruit [17], mango [18], and lychee [19]
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