Desenvolvimento de bebida mista a base de água de coco e suco de frutas vermelhas

Abstract

Currently it isclear the pursuit of consumers for healthier foods, like the fruit-base ones, due to higher population awareness of the close relationship between diet and health. Aiming at nutritional and sensory improvement, there are two trends in the beverage segment, which are coconut water-based juices, as a healthier option than water and the mixed beverage segment, containing two or more fruits in its composition. Given this increased demand for healthier, differentiated products and fast and practical consumption, the objective of this work was to develop a mixed drink based on coconut water and red fruit juice with sensory and nutritional quality. Seven juice formulations were prepared from strawberry, raspberry and blackberry fruits according to the mixture design. The strawberry, raspberry and blackberry juices were prepared with 50% pulp and 50% coconut water and the other formulations were prepared by mixing the isolated pulp juices. Total titratable acidity, soluble solids, pH, antioxidants (ABTS and DPPH), total phenolics, anthocyanins and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) content were analyzed. In addition, all formulations were sensorially analyzed by affective acceptance testing. The results were evaluated by univariate (variance analysis and mean test) and multivariate statistical analysis using principal component analysis (PCA) and preference map. For formulation optimization, response surface analysis was applied. The juices elaborated with larger proportions of strawberry (50% or 100%) were preferred among the tasters, whereas the juices elaborated with higher concentrations of blackberry contributed to the antioxidant activity, phenolic compounds and total anthocyanins of the drink. According to the optimization, based on nutritional and sensory characteristics, the mixed juices should contain 50-60% strawberry, 40% blackberry and 0-10% raspberry. As it was found in this work that the mixture of two or more fruits may increase the nutritional and sensory value compared to the juice of a single isolated fruit, it can be concluded that the combination of red fruits, within the range of optimized proportions, it is an interesting alternative for consumers.