PRODUCTION AND QUALITY CONTROL OF PICKLED PEPPERS
To allow sales and food consumption during all the year, many food-preserving methods can be used. pickles production in acidified brine shows to be an efficient and accessible method to expand shelf time, ensuring quality and food security for the product to be consumed, adding value to raw material. The pepper, Capscium spp., is a widespread spice in northeastern cuisine that, aside from cheap and accessible, containing important nutrients for health. In this work was produced pickles of different peppers using two acidifying substances, seasonings, and do physical-chemical analyses to determine the product quality. Three types of pepper, pimenta-de-cheiro pimenta cumari-do-Pará and pimenta dedo-de-moça and two acidifiers, vinegar and citric acid, were used. The pickles production was all made under controlled environment and aseptic conditions. The physical-chemical analyses consisted in determine pickles pH, acidity, salinity and vitamin C content. The budget was based in the real priced of this production. The label was created according to the Brazilian standards and, to obtain the product’s nutritional information, an international database was used. In total, 17 pepper pickles were produced. According to the physical-chemical analyses, for pH, all the pickles were below the maximum range of 4,5, with values between 2,2 and 2,9 during the three periods analyzed (0, 30 and 60 days); acidity values showed that the vinegar pickles were below the minimum accepted value (1,5), while the critic acid pickles were higher than the maximum accepted value (3,5); salinity was 5% for the vinegar pickles and 6‰ for the citric acid pickles; ascorbic acid quantification showed that the covering liquid had values between 1,14 and 2,85 mg/100 mL. The production cost by pickles was R$ 6,17 per product; vinegar pickles were had a lower production cost, being the most commercially favorable ones. Pepper pickles with satisfactory physical-chemical parameters was produced.