BEVERAGE OF ASSAI AND PASSION FRUIT WITH UNRIPE BANANA PULP

Resumo

The consumers’ preference for foods that are healthier has caused an increase in the production of fruit beverages with such characteristics, and a demand for research and innovation in this field. The objective of this work was to develop, smoothie beverage containing assai and passion fruit, and enriched with unripe banana pulp. Firstly, the beverage, which was formulated with different percentages of unripe banana pulp (130, 150 and 170 g kg^-1), was evaluated using sensory preference and purchase intention tests. Once the preferred formulation was defined, the beverage was subjected to pasteurization tests (immersion in boiling water), varying the thermal treatment time (12, 15 and 20 minutes), and was then stored under refrigeration and evaluated using affective sensory tests (acceptability and purchase intention tests). The physical-chemical determinations carried out for each treatment were as follows: Total titratable acidity, Total solids, Soluble solid, Total and reducing sugars, Vitamin C, Instrumental color and pH. The data was evaluated statistically using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Tukey Test. The results indicated that: the best formulation was the one containing 170 g kg^-1 unripe banana pulp; the thermal treatment used, didn’t influence the beverage’s sensory acceptance; and the average scores obtained for the sensory tests were between 6.5 and 7.0 on a nine-point hedonic scale. The results indicated that there was good consumer acceptability of the final product. Therefore, it was possible to produce a beverage of high viscosity with the unripe banana pulp with satisfactory results in sensory tests performed.