Abstract

VALDOVINOS AGUILERA, Victoria Viviana; MONGELOS VIEDMA, Sandra Elizabeth; NUNEZ VEGA, Clara  and  YUBERO CAZZOLA, María Fátima. Processing and physico-chemical properties of coconut pulp (Acrocomia aculeata) for use as an ingredient in a foodstuff. Investig. Agrar. [online]. 2018, vol.20, n.1, pp.51-57. ISSN 2305-0683.  https://doi.org/10.18004/investig.agrar.2018.junio.51-57.

The products obtained from the fruit of the coconut palm (Acrocomia aculeata) are several. However, the pulp is used to a lesser extent due to the high acidity of its oil and its high fat content, which hinders its conservation for food purposes. Although the pulp is for human consumption, to obtain a safe food is necessary the knowledge of the process and its physicochemical properties. The objective of this study was to determine the physico-chemical properties of the resulting pulp of two processes for obtaining, one that used the traditional method (process 1) and another in which the whole fruit of the coconut was exposed to pre-drying (process 2) in order to evaluate the subsequent application of the pulp in the manufacture of a foodstuff. Standardized methods of The Grain and Feed Trade Association were used to determine the physic-chemical properties of the pulp obtained and preference tests were used to evaluate the foodstuff. Coconut pulp obtained by the Process 2 had better performance, 32.8% reductions in fat content, 8.1% in humidity, 50% in the acidity of the oil and its caloric value. Afterwards, the coconut pulp was applied as a binder in the production of cereal bars with sesame resulting to be preference to D ratio among four formulations.

Keywords : Acrocomia aculeata; binder; coconut pulp..

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