Martha Patricia Tarazona-Díaz

The Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) is renowned for its distinctive appearance and functional properties. Colombia has emerged as the world's leading producer and exporter of Cape gooseberries, with annual export growth of 1.2%, predominantly to countries such as the USA and the Netherlands. Traditionally sold with its calyx intact to minimize water loss and deterioration, recent interest in selling Cape gooseberries without the calyx to reduce volume has raised concerns regarding shelf life. Consequently, research has pivoted toward post-harvest management to extend shelf life. An experiment was conducted to explore various treatments and temperatures (5, 10, and 18 ℃), meticulously monitoring fruit quality over time. Findings underscore that calcium chloride and refrigerated storage at 10 ℃ preserve the quality of the Cape gooseberry fruit for up to 20 days. Moreover, temperature and time exerted a significant influence on fruit quality and physicochemical properties, with interactions impacting conservation methods. The application of calcium chloride as a barrier method yielded optimal preservation outcomes, safeguarding key fruit properties. Conversely, sodium hypochlorite treatment at 18 ℃ accelerated fruit ripening owing to heightened respiratory intensity. This study not only sheds light on effective preservation strategies for Cape gooseberries but also underscores the intricate interplay between environmental factors and post-harvest management techniques. By enhancing our understanding of these dynamics, the study catalyzes advancements in fruit preservation practices, thereby fortifying the agricultural and economic sectors, both domestically and internationally.

La sandía vanessa, la luffa y la cassabanana son cucurbitáceas que poseen compuestos con potencial bioactivo, esto es, presencia de compuestos que ejercen efectos benéficos para la salud. En Colombia, estas frutas son desaprovechadas, debido a su escasa popularidad; dar a conocer la información de sus compuestos nutricionales incentiva su aprovechamiento y consumo. El objetivo del presente estudio fue realizar la caracterización fisicoquímica y evaluar el efecto de la liofilización y la extracción asistida por ultrasonido sobre el contenido de vitamina C, polifenoles totales y capacidad antioxidante de las partes de cada fruto. Los desechos generados entre cortezas y semillas son de 28,3 % (sandía), 68,76 % (luffa) y 25,39 % (cassabanana); estos, a su vez, presentaron contenidos de polifenoles totales y capacidad antioxidante mayores que en la pulpa. El tratamiento de liofilización mejoró la extracción % en capacidad antioxidante, vitamina C y polifenoles totales, comparado con las muestras frescas. Por otro lado, tanto la corteza como la pulpa de luffa son una buena fuente de compuestos con capacidad antioxidante, mientras que la sandía y la cassabanana alcanzaron una buena aceptación sensorial, lo cual, se atribuye al contenido de sólidos solubles y el alto contenido de agua, que las hace frutas dulces y refrescantes.

Anthocyanins are present in blackberries and can be used in the food industry as visual indicators that allow understanding the color variations related to the quality of a food. The purpose of this study was evaluated castilla blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth) and wild blackberry (Rubus adenotrichos) were assessed considering the type of raw material; fresh and lyophilized (22°C, 4.3 mbar, 7 days), pretreatment with microwaves (2450 MHz, 30s) and extraction method; conventional and assisted by ultrasound (300 W, 10 min) in the extraction of monomeric anthocyanins. The lyophilized raw material, the use of microwaves and ultrasound-assisted extraction extract more anthocyanins. The extracts changed color accordingly to pH, presenting colorations from red to green.

Raw material homogeneity is one of the most requested characteristics in any production industry, and the cacao industry is no exception. However, there are many factors that affect the final quality of fruits, among them the variety and maturity stage. The present study aimed to create color tables for evaluating the maturity index of the ICS06, CCN51 and EET8 cacao clones, using digital image processing, in order to contribute for the quality and final homogeneity of the fruits and their by-products.

Research background Passion fruit and carrot with vegetables that contain a good antioxidant capacity, however, their consumption is low. There is no information available on the use of these in beverages and with processes such as high hydrostatic pressures that allow the safety of the drink without affecting its quality. Experimental approach. In this study the effect of high hydrostatic pressures (HHP) (500 MPa, 250 s, 25 °C) and thermal processing (65 °C, 10 min; 75 °C, 2 min and 95 °C, 1 min) were evaluated, in the formulation of a cold pressed beverage composed of purple passion fruit, green passion fruit and carrot juice; Taking into account: antioxidant capacity, vitamin C content, sensorial evaluation and microbiological behavior at 8 °C. Results and conclusions. The formulation, 67 % purple passion fruit, 17 % green passion fruit and 17 % carrot was the one that stood out for its antioxidant capacity, high vitamin C content and sensorial evaluation. The HHP method preserved the antioxidant capacity and vitamin C, generated the best scent and showed no microbial growth during storage at 8 °C. Novelty and scientific contribution. In this study were used tropical raw materials that have good sensory acceptance and antioxidant capacity, which could be used in the generation of high value-added foods. Additionally, the research demonstrated that HHP is a conservation method that maintains the antioxidant capacity, vitamin C and aroma of the beverage to a greater extent compared to thermal treatments; the latter is of interest for its use in minimally processed products and functional food.

El maracuyá es un fruto tropical que se cultiva primordialmente para la obtención de pulpa, siendo la corteza su principal subproducto que carece, en la actualidad, de interés industrial; sin embargo, con el fin de diversificar los derivados provenientes de la producción de maracuyá, se ha demostrado que la corteza contiene carotenoides, dentro de los que se destaca el β-caroteno y la luteína, que podrían ser utilizados en alimentos, debido a su poder antioxidante e, incluso, como colorante natural alternativo. Por lo anterior, el objetivo de este trabajo fue obtener un extracto rico en carotenoides a partir de su corteza; para ello, se evaluó la extracción con etanol, mediante tres técnicas: inmersión, baño termostático y soxhlet. El mayor rendimiento, se obtuvo con el método soxhlet; para esta técnica, se estudió el efecto de la concentración de etanol (entre 80% y 90% v/v), la proporción solvente-materia prima (con relaciones entre 40:1 y 50:1) y el tiempo (definido entre 90 y 150 minutos). Los resultados, se analizaron mediante modelo de superficie de respuesta, obteniendo el mayor rendimiento con etanol al 90%, utilizando 50mL/g corteza y 150 minutos de operación. A estas condiciones, el rendimiento de extracción fue de 2208,53µg β-caroteno/100g muestra. Por último, se determinó la diferencia de color entre el extracto óptimo y una solución de tartrazina, evidenciando una diferencia de color de 3,07 unidades cieLAB, lo cual, muestra que el producto de lixiviación de la corteza de maracuyá tiene potencial para su uso como aditivo alimentario, reemplazando colorantes sintéticos, como la tartrazina.

Non-centrifugal cane sugar (NCS) is a natural sweetener with beneficial health properties. This is traditionally produced in an oven which has had technological variations. Therefore, the present study focuses on determining the effect that NCS processing technology has on its physicochemical properties. In this study, two contrasting technologies were selected: the first one corresponds to the traditional furnace, characterized by a flat combustion chamber and hemispherical pan. The second one corresponds to the furnace with a ward type combustion chamber and modified pan. The variety of sugarcane selected was RD 75-11. The physical and chemical parameters evaluated were hydrogen potential (pH), total acidity (TA), solid soluble content soluble (SSC), ash, minerals, reducing sugars, color, moisture content and heat capacity. The technology with ward- type combustion chamber and modified pan managed to concentrate the oBrix of syrup to NCS in a 36.03% unlike the traditional furnace (32.59%). The two technologies used allowed obtaining NCS with an average caloric value of 14684.9 J g-1 and soluble solid content of 90.1°Brix. It was found that the NCS is a source of minerals such as potassium (3.55 g kg -1), calcium (2.25 g kg -1) and phosphorus (0.3 g kg -1).

The cover image is based on the Research Article Study of the physical and chemical changes during the maturation of three cocoa clones, EET8, CCN51, and ICS60 by Andrés F Cubillos Bojacá et al., DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.9882.Cover image ©AGROSAVIA Images. image