Development and physicochemical characterization of watermelon jelly with pepper..

Watermelon is a tropical fruit with relevant nutritional quality, due to the significant amounts of minerals and lycopene present in the pulp, and also has versatility in the forms of consumption. The production of jellies is an alternative to minimize post-harvest losses, since it allows the use of fruits that did not reach the standard for in natura consumption. The objective of this work was the elaboration and physicochemical characterization of watermelon jelly with pepper, traditional and light. The formulations were composed of: F1 (65% watermelon and 33% sucrose), F2 (76% watermelon and 22% sucrose) and F3 (74% watermelon, 22% sucrose and 2% maltodextrin), all added with 1% pepper and 1% pectin. The ingredients were mixed and concentrated to soluble solids contents between 66 and 68°Brix. The jellies were characterized to pH, titratable acidity, ratio and instrumental color (L*, a* and b*). The results were submitted to analysis of variance ANOVA and the means compared by the Tukey test, at the level of 5% of significance. The reduction of sucrose in jellies affected significantly (p <0.05) the parameters: pH (F1 = 5.51; F2 = 5.33; F3 = 5.38), titratable acidity (F1 = 0.61; F2 = 0.90; F3 = 0.78 g citric acid.100g-1), ratio (F1 = 111.48; F2 = 73.30; F3 = 87.18), L* (F1 = 17.26; F2 = 18.42; F3 = 17.27), a* (F1 = +22.60; F2= +26.81; F3 = +23.47) and b* (F1 = +14.39; F2 = +16.98; F3=+14.49). It is possible to observe that in all formulations the formation of gel occurred. However, the addition of maltodextrin to the jelly gave more similar characteristics to traditional jelly. It is concluded that the production of traditional and light jelly is a viable technological alternative for the use of watermelon pulp.