PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND RHEOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF GUAVA PULP (Psidium guajava L.) VARIETIES HYBRID KLOM SALI, PUERTO RICO, D14 AND RED

Rheological properties of fruit juices appear to be very much dependent of their varieties, state of ripening, concentration of juice/pulp and temperature variation. Typical values of flow behaviour index and consistency index are rather limited considering the varieties of guava fruits. In this work the guava pulp ( Psidium guajavaL.) was rheologically characterized in the varieties Hybrid of Klom Sali, Puerto Rico, D14 and Red cultivated in the department of Córdoba (Colombia); the pulps were obtained by means of refinery with mesh 1.5mm of opening. The rheological measurements were carried out in a Brookfield viscometer DVII+ Pro model, used the spindle Nº 5 for the varieties Klom Sali, Puerto Rico and Red, and Nº 6 for the variety D14. The pulps presented pH among 3.90 – 4.6, ºBrix among 9 - 10, acidity expressed as percentage of citric acid among 0.56 – 0.96% and maturity index among 9.38–17.94; were adjusted appropriately to Oswald-de Waele model or power law (R2 ≥ 0.989), behaving as a pseudoplastic fluid (n ≤ 0.307) and presenting tixotropic percentages the variety Puerto Rico (14.16%), Red (18.54%) y D14 (18.48%).