Innovative use of Aloe vera gel on ready-to-eat pomegranate arils
D. Martinez-Romero, D. Valero, P.J. Zapata, F. Guillen S. Castillo, M. Serrano
Abstracts of 7th International Postharvest Symposium 2012 (IPS2012). 25-29 June, 2012. Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 238 pages.
2012
บทคัดย่อ
Pomegranate fruit is highly appreciated by consumers but less commercial than other fruits due to its difficult to peel before consumption. Then, there is a need to have available processed and ready-to-eat arils. In this work, several treatments were carried out on arils: I) Distilled water, 2) Citric acid + Ascorbic acid (I+ 1%), 3) Citric acid + Ascorbic acid (0.5+0.5%), 4) Aloe gel 100%, 5) Aloe gel 50% (v/v), 6) Treatment 2+4, and 7) Treatment 3+5. Treatments were performed by dipping solutions for 10 min and then a mass of 120 g was packed in 280 mL-pots covered with a lid. Pots were stored at 2-4°C for 12 days, and analytical determinations were made after 0, 4,8 and 12 days; sensory analysis, microbial counts, gas composition and quality attributes. For all cases, CO2 and O2 concentration at the end of the experiment was similar (7-10 kPa and 10-15 kPa, respectively). Following the opening of the pots, the highest scores in terms of acceptability were those arils packed with Aloe and acids (treatments 6 and 7), although treatments 2 and 6 induced juice leakage due to breakdown of epidermis by acidic conditions. In addition, maintenance of quality parameters in terms of firmness retention and colour was also recorded for treatments 6 and 7. Microbiologically, arils treated with treatments 6 and 7 showed the lowest counts in mesophilic aerobics and yeast and moulds (CFU < 10 g") compared with control (CFU > 103 and 102 g-', respectively). Overall, the best treatment for maintaining ready-to-eat arils was the combination of Aloe gel and Citric acid + Ascorbic acid (0.5+0.5%), which could be considered as an innovative treatment with health repercussions, due to the presence of Aloe vera gel.