Abstract
Jambolan (Syzygium cumini) is a tropical fruit rich in anthocyanin pigments, but its fragile skin and pulp present low protection against physical damages and microorganisms. In this sense, a preservative technology, as osmotic dehydration (OD), was studied to investigate the impact of some variables over this process. At first, fruits of jambolan were submitted to physical and physical-chemical analysis. Furthermore, whole fruits underwent OD following a fractional factorial design. The influence of the process variables: temperature (20-50ºC), sucrose concentration (30-60%), pressure (10-90 kPa), vacuum pulse time (5-15 min), calcium lactate concentration (0-4%) and number of vacuum pulse (1-3) was assessed on water loss (WL), solid gain (SG) and weight reduction (WR). In general, biometric analysis showed positive and significant correlation among the physical characteristics of jambolan. Physical-chemical assay demonstrated that the fresh fruit presents a potential source of bioactive compounds. The screening design showed that temperature, sucrose concentration, calcium lactate concentration and pressure affected the WL in jambolan. On the other hand, vacuum pulse time and number of vacuum pulse showed no influence on the WL, SG and WR; therefore, these variables must be fixed at the most economically viable level for any further trials.
Highlights
The Amazon hosts a large biological diversity, including great number of non-native plant species, which have been successfully adapted to the Amazonian environmental conditions (Brito et al, 2017)
The pulp fruit weight (PFW) observed in the study presented a mean value of 4.07 g, which contributed to a yield higher than 70%
Osmotic dehydration (OD) of jambolan was studied for the first time
Summary
The Amazon hosts a large biological diversity, including great number of non-native plant species, which have been successfully adapted to the Amazonian environmental conditions (Brito et al, 2017). Native from India, jambolan, janun or black plum (Syzygium cumini) fruits are ellipsoid berries from the Myrtaceae family, which present themselves as purplish black, with a sour taste at the ripe stages of maturation (Seraglio et al, 2018) This tropical fruit is rich in anthocyanin pigments, especially in its peel (Sari et al, 2012). The rising search for products with similar sensory and nutritional properties to fresh fruits stimulates the food industry to seek for preservation methods in foods (Sridevi & Genitha, 2012). In this scenario, osmotic dehydration (OD) is growing as a popular technique for obtaining processed fruits, improving their quality and stability (Ahmed et al, 2016)
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