Changes in quality during maturation of yellow mombin fruits

Abstract

Yellow mombin fruit is highly accepted because of its exotic taste. The understanding of the maturation process of these fruits is a decisive factor to establish identity and quality standards, providing a prediction of the post-harvest life, besides allowing the appropriate use of the fruits in stages of maximum gustatory quality. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate the changes in the quality of yellow mombin fruit occurring in Brejo Paraibano during maturation. The fruits were harvested in five stages of maturation and were used in 80 repetitions of a fruit for the physical evaluations(peel color, peel color index, length, diameter, fresh mass and firmness)and the pulp of four repetitions of twenty fruits for the physical-chemical(titratable acidity, soluble solids, SS/TA ratio, pH and ascorbic acid).The data were submitted to ANOVA and the Tukey test. Fruits of the stages start of pigmentation (IP), greenish yellow (AV), yellowish green (VA) and totally yellowish (TA) presented higher mass, length and diameter. The transition from green to yellow occurred between the IP and VA stages. Fruits of stage TA stood out as tastier, by the higher contents of soluble solids (15.42%), ratio SS/TA (7,40) and significant contribution of ascorbic acid (37.85 mg.100g-1), which values its consumption.