Effects of pulp and pectin concentrations of passion fruit from Caatinga (Passiflora cincinnata Mast.) on the production of symbiotic beverages

•Caatinga passion fruit peel has a 70 % pectin yield due to methodology optimization.•Phenolic compounds in high concentrations can be antimicrobial.•Pectin at 12 g/L does not interfere with probiotic viability.•In GI simulation, 43.6 % survived at intermediate levels of pectin in the pulp. Developing symbiotic beverages is challenging due to the dependence of product viability on the composition of the culture medium, strain, and prebiotic type. This work aimed to evaluate the effects of pulp and pectin concentrations of passion fruit from Caatinga (Passiflora cincinnata Mast.) on the production of symbiotic beverages fermented by Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus ATCC 7469. The beverages were prepared with different pulp concentrations (20, 35, and 50 % v/v) and pectin extracted from passion fruit peel (5, 12.5, and 20 g/L). Viability, pH, fructose, glucose, lactic acid, phenolic compounds, and total reduced sugar were determined after fermentation (24 h; 37 ºC) and 28 days of refrigerated storage at 4 ºC. In addition, viability was analyzed under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Fermentation of 20 % v/v pulp favored a higher growth of microorganisms (8.7 Log CFU/mL), due to lower concentration (13.7 mg GAE/100 g) of phenolic compounds (p ≤ 0,05). Probiotic survival, lactic acid concentration, and pH, during storage, were not influenced by either pectin or pulp concentrations. Regardless of the pectin concentration, there was no probiotic survival under simulated gastrointestinal conditions, when 50 % pulp was used. Pulp (35 % v/v) and pectin (12.5 g/L) concentrations showed higher survival rates under simulated gastrointestinal conditions (43.6 %; 3 log CFU/mL) (p ≤ 0,05).