Preliminary study on preparation of fermented pineapple with mint addition

Abstract

Brazil’s Northeastern region has great potential for the production of tropical fruits, due to its favorable climate; however, during harvest periods, there is a high waste of a great amount of these fruits. Therefore, many of them cannot be sold under the conditions in which they are harvested. Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merril) is a tropical fruit, adaptable to low humidity conditions, and about 35% of the yield of this fruit is located in the Northeastern region of Brazil. The fruit is composed of salts (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium, copper and iodine) and vitamins (C, A, B1, B2 and Niacin), and it provides the body with a high nutritional potential. An alternative to reduce the waste of these fruits, during their harvest period, can be the production of fermented products. This work aims to carry out the production of fermented pineapple with the addition of mint, as a way to analyze how the addition of mint interferes with the flavor and aroma of the fermented product, as well as its physicochemical characteristics. At the end of the process, a fermented product with an alcohol content of 11.2% and a yield from the fermentation process of 89.3% were obtained. In the sensory analysis it was observed that the amount of mint added did not stand out; even so, the product was well accepted by the evaluators.