ACCEPTANCE OF GUARIROBA [Syagrus oleracea (Mart.) Becc.] PALM HEART IN PRESERVES OF DIFFERENT ORGANIC ACIDS

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the acceptation of guariroba [Syagrus oleracea (Mart.) Becc.] palm heart preserved, acidified with organic the acids acetic, citric monohydrate, dl-lactic 85%, and dl-malic and L(+)-tartaric. The 75 preserves of guariroba were processed, packed in glass bottles, immersed in brine acidified with different organic acids, in quantities sufficient to lower the pH of the mixture to about 4.3, projected for balance. The experiment was completely randomized, with five treatments and fifteen repetitions. Six glasses of palm hearts at random were used to determine the stabilizing pH of the preserves. Nine glasses were used to assess the acceptance of preserved guariroba and other physical and chemical analyses. The acceptance was evaluated through a tasting portion of approximately 50 g of the product, based on a hedonic scale of seven levels, applied to 500 not trained volunteers. All treatments have had acceptance exceeding 80% among judgers used to guariroba consumption, and over 65% among non-consumers. The treatment with malic acid (pH 3.50) obtained lower acceptance than those acidified with acetic (pH 4.01), citric (pH 3.67), lactic (pH 3.88), and tartaric acids (pH 3.43), which did not differ significantly among them. In such levels of pH, the costs of acidification with lactic acid, citric acid, and acetic acid were equivalent among them and lower than those processed with malic and tartaric acids.

KEY-WORD: Palmetto; canned heart-of-palm; botulism.