The present study consisted of (1) selection of pre-treatment adequate temperature/time binomial applied to the raw material, (2) optimization of fruit and vegetables pulps formulation, (3) selection of pasteurization conditions to be applied to the end product, (4) evaluation of untreated pulp (ST) and pasteurized pulp (TT) modifications, with utilization of transparent (T) and opaque (O) packaging, and maintained in refrigerated or in frozen conditions. Pulps were monitored for physicochemical, biochemical, microbiological, rheological and sensory parameters. The optimized pulp consists in an apple base (41 %) and pineapple (31 %), to which cabbage (8%), pumpkin (10%) and banana (10%) were introduced. The temperature/time binomial of the thermal pre-treatments are specific for each raw-material (100 °C/ 5 minutes for cabbage, 90 °C/ 6 minutes for pumpkin and 100 °C/ 1 minute for “Fuji” apple and 1,5 minutes for the Granny Smith variety). The established pasteurization temperature/time binomial was 75 °C/ 90 seconds. The developed pulp in transparent and opaque packaging under refrigeration showed a shelf-life of 7 and 14 days, respectively. In frozen storage, quality maintenance is more dependent of storage time and no significant changes were observed for 60 days.

Mestrado em Engenharia Alimentar - Instituto Superior de Agronomia