Elaboration and sensorial evaluation of jelly and fruit crystallized cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill)

This study aimed at the elaboration and the sensorial evaluation of cactus pear fruit jelly and crystallized cactus pear fruit. The jelly obtained presented the following composition: reducing sugars 21.6%; pH 3.07; soluble solids 69.2 °Brix; titrated acidity 0.63% (citric acid) and humidity 23.5%. The sensory analysis was accomplished by a team of 20 non trained judges with ages between 20 and 50 years who evaluated the attributes global impression, aroma, flavor, color, texture and purchase intention, using a hedonic method with a nine-point scale from [9] liked very much to [1] disliked very much The results obtained showed that color was the attribute that showed the best acceptance for the judges with an average of 8.2. The attribute global impression obtained an average of 8.0, aroma 7.5, flavor 7.7, and texture 8.1. In the parameter purchase intention, all the judges declared that they would buy the product. To obtain the crystallized fruit, fresh fruit was washed and separated into pulp and peel. The treatments were as follows: T01, pulp with addition of 0.2% CaCl2; T02, pulp without CaCl2 addition and T03, peel without CaCl2 addition, which were cooked in sugar syrup (sucrose) and an initial glucose concentration of 20% and gradually increasing sugar by 10% every 24 hours until saturation (70 % sugar). The following physical-chemical analyses were carried out: pH, total soluble solids (TSS) and total titratable acidity (TTA) and sensory analysis measured in a 9-point structured hedonic scale (from dislike extremely to like very much) among 30 consumers. Results were submitted to statistical analysis using the SISVAR software. The physical-chemical characteristics of pH, TSS and TTA for treatment T01 were 5.27, 40.13 and 0.05%, respectively, for the T02 treatment the pH was 5.54, TSS 59.38 and TTA 0.05%, and for the T03 treatment the pH was 5.47, TSS 47.5 and TTA 0.06%. The treatment without calcium chloride received the best grades for the sensorial attributes evaluated. The results demonstrate that the intention of buying of the consumers was 48.39% for the treatment without calcium chloride.