Production of Dietetic Jam of Umbu-Caja (<i>Spondias</i> sp.): Physical, Physicochemical and Sensorial Evaluations

Abstract

The umbucajazeira is specie native to the Brazilian Northeast semiarid areas, which is economically explored based on the fruit. The fruit has a high agroindustrial potential, mainly for jam production. The aim of this study was to evaluate through sensorial analysis, two formulations of umbu-caja jams: a dietetic one with xylitol, used as an option for substitution of the sugars, and a conventional one. The proportion of 50:50:0.5 (pulp/sugar/pectin or pulp/xylitol/pectin) was used for jam processing. The mixture was concentrated up to reach 65°Brix. The jams were evaluated by 50 non-trained tasters, through a hedonic scale of nine points, whereas the following attributes were used: appearance, color, flavor, aroma and texture. The results of the physical and physicochemical analysis showed that the characteristics of jams prepared with sucrose are close to the ones made with xylitol, except for the total sugars and the energetic value. The jams had pH values ranging between 2.37 and 2.92; titratable acidity varying between 0.56 and 0.78 g citric acid/100 g pulp; soluble solids ranging between 60.92°and 65.08°Brix, respectively. A tendency for yellow color was noticed by the color analysis. Jam diet had the highest scores for appearance (7.4 - 7.7). No significant differences (p > 0.05) were obtained to flavor and texture. The fruit of the umbucajazeira showed to be adequate for jam manufature since they had good sensorial acceptance. The use of xylitol was satisfactory for obtaining a product with jam characteristics similar to the conventional jam, but with lower energetic value.