PHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FLOUR MADE FROM PURPLE CARÁ-(Dioscorea alata) FROM THE STATE OF AMAZÔNIA, BRAZIL.

The use of regional raw materials, particularly from Amazonian biodiversity, has aroused the interest of the food sector in Brazil, especially as sources for the elaboration of stable flours for storage. Among several species, the cará-roxão (Dioscorea alata) stands out, an energetic food with bioactive compounds, but not yet industrialized and at risk of extinction. Thus, the work aims to physically characterize the flours obtained from cará-roxão, harvested at the Federal Institute of Amazonas (IFAM-AM), Manaus, Amazonia, to be used as food ingredients. The samples (tubers) were processed in flour (B1) and cará-roxão starch (B2) at IFAM-AM. The analyses carried out included the determination of humidity; density with Densimeter; ash content and color. They were also evaluated by optical microscope with and without polarized light. The data were analyzed using the STATDISK 11.1.0 software, verifying the standard deviations of the means. The confidence interval used in the experiments was 95% (P<0.05). Regarding moisture content and density, the flours did not differ significantly from each other (P<0.05) and were in the parameters in relation to what is industrially  accepted. The moisture and ash contents are within the allowed by the national legislation, with B1 presenting higher ash content, suggesting a higher concentration of minerals in the flour, which was already expected