Avaliação de carambola (>i<Averrhoa carambola>/i< L.) dos tipos doce e ácido, para o processamento de fruta em calda

Abstract

Two kinds of star fruit ( sweet and acid) from the Northwest of São Paulo state, were analyzed physically as regards texture and yield, and chemically in terms of pH, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid and soluble solids content, in order to determine their suitability for canned fruit processíng.Different chemical treatments were used for processing the canned fruit (use of syrups with different sacarose concentrations, addition of pectin and calcium chloride in different concentrations and ascorbic acid), in order to evaluate the adequability of the two kinds of star fruit for thermal processing.The products were submitted to the physical analysis of gross weight, drained weight, vacuum and texture, and they were evaluated chemically as regards pH, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid and soluble solids content, and sensorially in terms of textura, flavor and color.Regarding the sweet kind fruits, the addition of calcium chloride and pectin was effective in the maintenance of its texture, once that, the treatments added with 0,2% of calcium chloride and 0,2% of pectin + 0,4% of calcium chloride showed the better values. For the acid kind this practice didn't produce the sarne effect, considering that the treatments added with O, 1 and 0,2% of calcium chloride were evaluated as inferior to that 'Whose syrup was added with O, 1 % of pectin, 'What indicates that this component is the responsable for the good texture in the processed acid fruits. Also, it was observed that this attribute was kept practically constant after a 90 days of storage.vi Finally it was concluded that both kinds of star fruit studied presented, under a technologic point of view, good physical and chemical characteristics, but the svveet kind of fruits were more apropriated for processing canned fruit, being superior in terms of texture and flavor.