Evaluation of Lyophilized Myrtle Pulp Powder Stability During Storage

Abstract

Myrtle is a fruit with great industrial potential, due to its nutritional characteristics and presence of phenolic compounds, especially anthocyanins. Nonetheless, the high perishability and short post-harvest life of this fruit limit its diffusion in the internal market and use in the food processing industry. Lyophilization of fruit pulps represents an alternative to increasing preservation time, resulting in a powder with higher stability and longer shelf life. In this context, this study was aimed to evaluate the stability of myrtle pulp powder during storage in laminated packages and under controlled conditions of temperature (between 30 and 40 ºC), and evaluate the kinetics of degradation of anthocyanins and flavonoids. As storage time increased at both temperatures, moisture content and water activity increased; and caused reductions of anthocyanins, flavonoids and lightness. In the evaluation of the kinetics of degradation of anthocyanins and flavonoids, the zero-order was the best model to represent the behavior and with higher stability at a temperature of 20 ºC.