Antecipação do ponto de colheita do caju CCP 76 visando ao beneficiamento da amêndoa e pedúnculo imaturo

Abstract

Cashew cultivation has great economic importance in the northeastern region of Brazil, while the mature benefited kernel has great participation in the industry, the peduncle is subtilized, despite having important nutritional characteristics, due to its high perishability. New methods of improving the quality of the nut and developing new products from the peduncle, such as mixed juices, can favor the economic yield of this crop. The objectives of this study were to establish the growth curve of the peduncle, cashew nut and kernel of CCP 76 to determine the ideal starting point for the cashew nut processing, besides evaluating the peduncle quality during development. To evaluate the composition and sensorial quality of cashew nut’s kernel harvested at different stages of maturation and benefited by the conventional and freezing method, and to develop beverages from the blend of the juice of the peduncle of the immature cashew with the juices of the peduncle of the mature cashew, mango and yellow mombin, with satisfactory sensorial characteristics. The growth curve experiment was developed with CCP 76, early dwarf, flowers were marked on opening day, fruits were harvested at 20, 28, 33, 36, 40, 42, 44 and 47 days after the first day of the experiment, marking for the realization of growth curves. The cashew nut processing experiment was carried out with CCP 76 cashew nuts. Six treatments, 1, 2 and 3 - cashew nuts harvested directly from the plant with approximately 40, 45 and 47 days, respectively, were tested and benefited by the conventional method; 3, 4 and 5 - cashew nuts harvested directly from the plant with approximately 40, 45 and 47 days, respectively, and benefited from previous freezing. The technological profile, centesimal composition and sensory analysis were performed, with acceptance test with 52 potential consumers indicating how much they liked about the characteristics of appearance, taste, global acceptance and the Check-All-That-Apply method to evaluate the descriptors with a list of preselected terms through Quantitative Descriptive Analysis. The development of the mixed juices was carried out with CCP 76 peduncle, 'Tommy Atkins' mangoes and yellow mombin, harvested in October, December 2014 and March 2015, respectively, were hygienized, pulped and beverages formulated in six treatments of each fruit pulp (control): 0% of peduncle 40d and 50% of fruit pulp, F2: 3% / 47%, F3: 6% / 44% , F4: 9% / 41%, F5: 12% / 38%, F6: 15% / 35%, all formulations were added with 50% water and the soluble solids corrected with sucrose to 12 °Brix. After formulation, the samples were submitted to the thermal treatment of 90 °C for 60 seconds, packed in a 200 mL glass bottle, previously sanitized with hot water (90 °C for 10 min) and kept under refrigeration (± 6 °C) until the sensory and physicochemical analyzes. The blend was analyzed for pH, soluble solids (° Brix), titratable acidity (% malic acid), SS / AT ratio, total soluble sugars (mg / 100g), vitamin C (mg / 100g), extractable polyphenols (mg / 100g gallic acid), as well as sensory analysis, with acceptance test with 52 potential consumers indicating how much they liked about the characteristics of appearance, taste, overall acceptance and the Check-All-That-Apply method for evaluate the aroma descriptors with a list of preselected terms through Quantitative Descriptive Analysis. The kernel can be considered formed and suitable for harvesting after 40 days of flower opening due to the stability of its characteristics after this period. The kernels benefited with 40 and 45 days of harvest after flowering have similar quality to the mature ones when benefited by the conventional method while kernels benefited by the freezing method did not present satisfactory quality for commercialization. It was concluded that the addition of immature cashew pulp in mixed juice formulation positively favored nutritional characteristics, increasing the presence of bioactive compounds, besides not reducing the sensory quality of mixed cashew, cajá and mango juices.