Resumen

SINDONI V, María J et al. Evaluation of coagulating agents for the formulation of juice from pseudofruits of merey. Agronomía Trop. [online]. 2007, vol.57, n.1, pp.61-65. ISSN 0002-192X.

In the eastern region of Venezuela, cashew, Anacardium occidentale L., is a fruit crop of economic and social importance for many rural communities which depend on its production. Studies performed with the pseudo-fruit of this crop have led to the formulation of a clarified juice which would provide aggregated value and increased earnings for cashew growers. When apples (pseudo-fruits) of the early dwarf clone CCP-76 were used before, a problem of high turbidity and astringency, which lowers juice quality, was found. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of either no flavour jelly or gluten as coagulant agents on turbidity, astringency and other characteristics of juice quality. Selected cashew apples, harvested from the INIAAnzoátegui orchard, were treated with 5% chlorinated water and processed to extract fresh juice, which was treated with various concentrations (5, 10 and 20% w/v) of no flavour jelly or gluten. Chemical determinations performed were: pH, total acidity, reducing sugars, tannins, total soluble solids (°Brix) and vitamin C. Also sensorial analyses to determine acceptability were performed. Results demonstrated that the juice obtained from the 10% jelly and 12% gluten showed the best clarification, when compared with the rest of treatments. These had a lower flocculation, slower precipitation and unattractive yellow colour. Even though total soluble solids and total acidity, before and after clarification, differed slightly, they were not determinant to choose one coagulant agent or another. Juice acceptability was higher when 10% gelatine as clarifying agent was used.

Palabras clave : Anacardium occidentale L; apple cashew; juice; coagulant; jelly; gluten.