Evaluation of physical characteristics of residue from grumixama pulp processing after conventional drying
The Atlantic Forest has a wide variety of fruit trees, many still with great potential for exploitation, such as grumixama. People are currently searching for new products and new flavors and unconventional fruits have attracted attention both on the national scene as internationally. The industrial products derived from fruit, such as frozen pulps, generate large amounts of waste, which can still contain compounds of interest for human consumption. Drying is a process that preserve the fruit waste for subsequent use in food products. This study aimed to determine some physical characteristics of the by-product from grumixama pulp processing dried in conventional oven under different conditions. The residues were dried in a conventional oven, at air speed of 0.4 m / s. Three temperatures were tested: 40°C, 60°C, 80° C and two treatments prior to drying process: with centrifugation (C) (2900 rpm, 5 min) and without centrifugation (NC). The dried residues were ground (mesh <65). We evaluated the following physical attributes: bulk density, apparent density, specific volume, water and oil holding capacity, swelling volume, solubility, emulsifying activity and emulsion stability. Treatments without prior centrifugation showed higher emulsification activity values (from 30 to 44%) when compared to treatment with prior centrifugation (16 to 18%) and comparable to values available in the literature for tangerine bagasse. The emulsion stability ranged from 0 (80°C/C and 80°C/NC) to 37% (60 ° C/C). For 60 and 80°C treatments, the centrifuged residue had higher water holding capacity values than the non-centrifuged ones. The other attributes also varied according to the different treatments applied. The dried grumixama waste may be considered for application in food products technology, but the drying condition may affect their physical characteristics, which should be considered according to the application.