ABSTRACT
Juçara (Euterpe edulis Martius) is a palm widely distributed in the Atlantic Forest. It produces a non-climacteric, black-violet small fruit similar to the Amazonian açaí (Euterpe precatoria). The fruit is known as superfruit because it presents chemical characteristics of great importance, such as anthocyanins content. Regarding bioactive compounds and antioxidant scavenging capacity, it presents high anthocyanin (634.26 to 2,929 mg of cyanidin-3-glucoside 100 g-1) and total phenolic compounds (415.1 to 9,778.20 mg equivalents of gallic acid 100 g-1) contents. The soluble solid content ranges from 3.0 to 4.9% and its pH is higher than other tropical fruits (4.8 to 5.6). Despite the rich bioactive compound content of juçara fruits, this plant has been traditionally used for palm heart production. The accelerated and illegal palm heart exploitation, without the use of an adequate management has led to the risk of extinction of this species. In order to prevent this species from vanishing, several studies have valued the health characteristics of juçara fruit chemical composition. An economical approach has been the production of juçara pulp described as a source of bioactive compounds, which has attracted the attention of industrial field aiming the production of functional foods, foodstuff, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. A full botanical and chemical characterization of juçara tree and fruit is presented in this paper, as well as suggestions to increase the use of this tropical fruit and derivatives. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-021-05342-8.
ABSTRACT
A lycopene-rich watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) concentrate was incorporated into snack cracker, fusilli pasta, and extruded snacks for coloring purposes. Changes in the L* and a* color coordinates and in the lycopene content were evaluated before and after thermal processes and monitored through 90 days of storage at ambient temperature. The products with the maximum lycopene degradation during processing were snack cracker and extruded snack (between 30 and 45%) whereas no degradation was observed in the fusilli pasta, except during cooking into boiling water (reduction up to 41%). The change in color during processing varied substantially depending on the product, but, in general, thermal treatments applied reduced the a* values (less reddish). The degradation kinetics of the lycopene and the color during storage followed first-order kinetics, with a half-life time of 25 to 315 days for lycopene content and 65 to 210 days for a* coordinate. Snack cracker was the most stable and had more than a 4-month period before losing half of the pigment content.
