EFFECT OF FERMENTATION WITH Saccharomyces boulardii 17 ON THE BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS OF CAJÁ RESIDUE (Spondias mombin L.)

The cajá (Spondias mombin L.) is a native Brazilian fruit, whose main industrial use is through the production of pulp and other frozen products, such as ice cream and popsicles. Its seeds, the main production residue, can represent up to 50% of the total weight of the fruit, and are usually destined for disposal, despite having relevant levels of bioactive compounds. Fermentation with probiotic strains is a strategy typically used for the enrichment of plant substrates, and can also be applied to the reuse of agro-industrial waste. In this context, the fermentation of cajá processing residue by Saccharomyces boulardii 17 was evaluated for its effects on the levels of bioactive compounds, with emphasis on total phenolic compounds (CFT), total flavonoids (TF) and ascorbic acid (AA). An aqueous medium (ratio 1:20 m/v) was produced from the cajá residue powder dried at 60 °C for 48 h, milled in a knife mill and standardized in a sieve with mesh 10. After sterilization in autoclave, the aqueous suspension of the residue was inoculated with S. boulardii 17 and incubated at 30 °C for 120 h. The determination of the bioactive compounds before and after fermentation was performed by the Folin-Ciocalteu (CFT), aluminum chloride (FT) and iodometric titration (AA) methods. The concentrations of total phenolics, total flavonoids and ascorbic acid originally quantified in the medium based on the cajá residue were 1.363 ± 0.035 mg EAG/g, 0.480 ± 0.003 mg EQ/g and 28.16 ± 2.35 mg AA/100 g, respectively