Nutritional quality of fruits of whole red peach palm dehydrated at different temperatures

Abstract

After dehydrating the food, a nutritional assessment is necessary, since high temperatures and long drying times induce nutrient losses. Therefore, the objective of this work was to determine at which drying temperature the pulp of the whole red peach palm suffers less losses in its nutritional content. The drying temperatures used were 45, 55 and 65°C. The most efficient temperature in removing free water from the peach palm pulp was 65^oC. Despite the lipids proved more concentrated at 45^oC, it was at 65^oC that there was increased concentration of both proteins and fibers. The pulp dehydrates at 55 and 65^oC, they can be considered as a source of dietary fiber according to the legislation. The lowest ash content was obtained in the treatment at 45^oC. Both the carbohydrates and carotenoids were significantly influenced by the highest drying temperatures. Therefore, depending on the nutritional or technological purpose to dehydrate the peach palm fruit, the three temperatures studied in this work, must be used to achieve the proposed objective.