SENSORY ANALYSIS OF ICE CREAM WITH CAMU-CAMU PULP: A PROPOSAL TO USE THE AMAZONIAN FRUIT FOR THE CONSUMER MARKET

Camu-camu is a fruit native to the Amazon that has high acidity of pulp and high concentrations of vitamin C. However, the lack of popularization of the fruit has limited its consumption, mainly in other regions of Brazil. The addition of Brazilian native fruit pulp in ice cream facilitates the diffusion of a technological product in the consumer market that exploits the nutritional quality of the fruit. Thus, the objective of this work was to elaborate three formulations of ice creams, S1, S2 and S3 (26%, 20% and 24% pulp, 12%, 14% and 14% sugar and 12%, 16% and 12% dried extract, respectively) and to evaluate the sensorial acceptance. The evaluated attributes were: aroma, appearance, color, flavor, texture and overall impression, using the 10 cm hybrid hedonic scale. Sensory analysis followed a randomized block design in a single session. Additionally, the profile of the consumers was verified through a questionnaire and counted on 70 untrained UTFPR evaluators, also calculating the acceptability index (A.I.). The acceptance counted with appraisers between 18 and 60 years, being 61.43% men and 38.57% women, of which, 18.57% say they consume ice cream eventually, 37.14% weekly and 44.29% monthly. The attributes aroma, appearance, color, and texture presented no difference between the three formulations, with a mean of 7.6; 7.7; 7.5 and 8.0 respectively. The S2 ice cream presented the highest average for flavor attributes (8.61) and overall impression (8.24). The formulations S2 and S3 presented higher A.I., of 82.4% and 74.1%, respectively, while S1, obtained lower A.I., below recommended. The flavor of the S2 ice cream had greater acceptance among the attributes and between the formulated ones. Therefore, it is recommended to apply this formulation to a greater acceptance by consumers, which has higher sugar and milk contents, even though it has the lowest pulp content.