Possibilidades de utilização do pseudocaule da bananeira (Musa sp.) para a produção de palmito.

Abstract

Bananas are the fourth most important staple crop in the world and are critical for food security in many tropical countries. Brazil is the second largest producer of bananas, and they are cultivated in the whole country, from the littoral to other inland areas. The area in crop is the third in the country, and totalled 222.000 acres. There is a need to study the rational use of the trunk of the banana (pseudostems) that can be processed for a number of human food products. In view of this, an attempt has been made in this work to study the use of the heart part of pseudostems, which is similar to the traditional palm, in the production of a new product (palm similar), due to the abundance of bananas plant parts that are not used. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: a) adaptation of the traditional palm processing in the banana palm processing; b) to study the changes in the nutritional composition (humidity, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, ashes and fibres) of the pseudostems parts (basal, near the soil, medium and apical), by undertaking a thermal treatment of 100, 110 e 120 Co, for a period of 5, 10 e 15 minutes; c) To determine the "in natura" and processed (palm) pseudostems toxity; d) to undertake a sensorial analysis for attributes like aspect, color, smell, texture, in order to access the degree of acceptability of the final product. The experiment was done considering chemical characteristics of the three in natura parts of the pseudostems: basal, near the soil, medium and apical. Due to the fact that there is no scientific methodology for this type of palm, a methodology was tested from an adaptation of the traditional palm processing. This new methodology has been shown to be appropriated, without implying significant changes in the alimentar composition of the final product. From the registered results, one can say that: a) the adaptation of the traditional palm processing has been shown to be appropriated, implying that the elimination of the "viscous" substance present abundantly in the pseudostems is necessary in order to become it edible; b) the thermal treatment recommended among the studied is the processing of all the parts of the pseudostems at 120°C for a period of 5 to 10 minutes; c) the average level of cyanidric acid found in the pseudostems parts (basal, medium and apical) is average and typical of the palm from the pseudostems of the banana plant are around 49,68 mg/kg, 43,20 mg/kg and 54,0 mg/kg, respectively being with the parameters considered innocuous and d) a sensorial analysis carried out, although limited by the fact that the researchers did not vii taste the material, it was shown that the appearance and texture of the product, the majority of the researchers, 85,72% classified it reasonable to good, the smell was classified as reasonable to excellent, with 35,715 reasonable, 25,00% good, 35,71% excellent; the color obtained the classification of good to excellent with 50,00% of the marks being good and 25,00% being excellent.