Quality for fresh consumption and processing of some non-traditional tropical fruits from Brazil

Abstract

Introduction. Brazil is home to a great diversity of tropical, non-traditional fruit species with a potential for consumption in natura and agroindustrial processing. The objec- tive of our study was to evaluate the quality of 18 non-traditional fruits from Brazil belonging to the families Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae, Arecaceae, Clusiaceae, Malpighiaceae, Melasto- mataceae and Myrtaceae. Materials and methods. Samples were collected from areas of occurrence, commercial orchards and collections in Northern, Northeastern and Southeastern Brazil; they were tested for total soluble solids (TSS), soluble sugars (SS), reducing sugars (RS), total titratable acidity (TTA), pH, (TSS / TTA) ratio, starch, total pectin (TP) and soluble pectin (SP). Results and discussion. Parameters varied greatly among the species. Thus, TSS was 4.75-37.07 °Brix; SS, 1.26-17.74%; RS, 2.53-9.92%; TTA, 0.20-2.64%; pH, 2.56-5.38; (TSS / TTA), 3.26-107.70; starch, 0.12-12.65%; TP, 0.15-1.27%; and SP, 0.04-1.49%. Conclusion. Many of the 18 fruits evaluated in this study show potential for consumption in natura and agroindustrial processing. Brazil / tropical fruits / indigenous species / introduced varieties / production possibilities / consumption / fresh fruits / processing