Avaliação e caracterização de sementes amazônicas para fins alimentícios

Abstract

Many products used by the society come from the Brazilian flora, such as medicines, food and its additives, fibers, natural and essential oils, cosmetics, chemicals and biofuels. Numerous classes of chemical compounds can be extracted from plant species, such as cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum), tucuman (Astrocaryum vulgare Mart), peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) and mammee apple (Mammea americana L.) belonging to families Malvaceae, Palmae and Clusiaceae. These fruits are well known in the Amazon region, their pulps have excellent sensorial characteristics (aroma, flavor and texture) with wide acceptance, and great potential for use in the production of varied types of food. Aiming to provide a better use of these fruits, studies about chemical and nutritional characterization were carried out from their seeds, and the viability of these seeds to obtain polysaccharides. The seeds of cupuassu, tucuman, peach palm and mammee apple showed high nutritional value due to the presence of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, minerals, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, essential amino acidsand phenolic compounds in different concentrations, which make of the seeds a potential byproduct to be used in food preparations, since the concentration of ant nutritional (tannins and phytates) was identified in low concentration. Regarding the extraction of polysaccharides, there was a difference in the monosaccharide composition identified in each seed, and the mammee apple seed was prominent, due to the high percentage of glucose. The seeds of tucuman and peach palm were also distinguished by the presence of mannose (M) and galactose (G) in the proportions (M / G) of 3:1 and 4:3, respectively, characterizing the possible presence of galactomannans.