Secagem por spray drying de suco de abacaxi com hortelã e avaliação sensorial do suco reconstituído

Abstract

The spray drying process is a drying method that contributes to the conservation of liquid foods by reducing moisture and converting them into powder. Sensory analysis is an ideal tool to evaluate the acceptance of products resulting from drying. The objective of this work was to evaluate the physico-chemical characteristics of pineapple juice with fresh and powdered mint and reconstituted, being the juice powder acquired by dehydration in spray dryer dryer with drying air temperature of 100 ° C and without the addition of carrier agents. For the juice in natura and reconstituted, color analysis was performed, representing the parameters of luminosity (L *), intensity of green color (-a *) and intensity of yellow color (-b *), water activity (aw) and humidity. The powdered samples of pineapple juice with mint were submitted to the same analysis, besides hygroscopicity and solubility. The results showed that the powder had low water activity around 0.1. Because there was no carrier agent during drying, the solubility of the powder was low, about 78%. The sensory acceptance test of the reconstituted juice showed that the color and taste taxes did not have good acceptance, but the overall impression attribute did. The intent of purchase test allowed to conclude that more than 50% of the testers would buy the product. The control difference test revealed that there was a significant difference in flavor between the reconstituted juice and the juice in natura, and between the latter and the juice made from the commercial pulp. Even so, pineapple juice with mint powder can be an interesting product to be used commercially or as an ingredient for other products.