Efeito do congelamento na estabilidade da castanha-do-Brasil (Bertholletia excelsa HBK)

Abstract

The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa HBK) and its products gained significant space in the commercial scenario, being a product widely consumed by the Brazilian and world population. Almond contains a good amount of oil and high food value properties. It is a nutritious food, but its limiting factor is rapid deterioration. The Brazil nut industries are looking for solutions to prevent product loss due to storage conditions and the action of enzymes that act on the degradation of lipids present in almonds, even at the beginning of processing, thus improving the shelf life of the products. Due to the economic importance of the almond in another form, in addition to the dehydrated one, the frozen Brazil nut was submitted to two freezing techniques and evaluated every 30 days for 6 months, for characteristics, proximate composition and stability. The samples were subjected to rapid freezing (-25°C) and slow freezing (-18°C) and stored at low temperatures for 6 months. Visually, Brazil nut almonds had characteristics similar to those of fresh (without dehydration). The acidity index and the peroxide index, analyzed from the nut oil, are considered one of the main parameters for evaluating the quality of Brazil nuts and the results obtained demonstrate that the two freezing methods were efficient and showed if a good method of conservation since the results of these indices remained well below the maximum limit established by legislation, configuring stability of the product during storage time. After the statistical analysis, it was found that there was no significant difference between the two types of freezing (P > 0.05) in the analysis of moisture, water activity, lipids, acidity index and peroxide index, demonstrating both techniques can be used according to the need and availability of the cold. The results are interesting for the food industry, with frozen Brazil nuts as a potential new product and for the final consumer who wants to preserve the characteristics of this nut without compromising its quality.