PRODUCTION AND EVALUATION OF GUAVA CHIPS

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a climacteric tropical fruit of nutritional importance in terms of vitamins C and A, in addition to high lycopene concentrations. They present seeds rich in omega 6, omega 3, proteins, minerals, polyunsaturated acids and riboflavin. It has high respiration rates with a very short shelf life. The objective of this work was to develop a guava chip through the freeze drying process. The fruits were purchased from local shops (Sobral, CE, Brazil) and after cleaning they were manually peeled and sliced through a 5 mm thick professional mandolin, frozen for 24h at -18 ± 1 ºC and subjected to freeze drying (Liotop, Model - L101, Brazil). The chips were characterized by moisture (AOAC, 2012), ascorbic acid (Tillmans method) and soluble solids (refractometry) contents, pH, texture (Stable Micro System, Model - TA-XT2-Plus) and color (portable colorimeter- Delta color-Colorimeter 2). The freeze dryed product presented an average humidity of 7.4%, while the fresh product humidity was 85.6%. The vitamin C content went from 21 mg/100g in the fresh product to 249 mg/100g in the chip. The pH remained close to 3.8. For dried fruits the texture contributes to quality in a way that is equitable to other properties, such as aroma, color and consumer aspects. The average of the maximum forces exerted was 4.2 N and it presented a gummy aspect. From the analysis of the parameters L*, a* and b* it was verified that there was no color deterioration of the lyophilized fruits, there was a brightness gain (L*) and the chips were lighter than the fresh fruits. It can be concluded that it is possible to produce guava chips maintaining the nutritional characteristics and a good visual presentation.