Shelf life and quality of minimally processed pumpkins

Abstract

Pumpkins are generally large vegetables, and therefore have difficulties in marketing, storage and handling, which ends up causing many losses. In this sense, minimal processing is the most viable alternative to enhance commercialization and, therefore, the study of cultivars is essential to understand the physiological responses and select materials most suitable for this technique. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the quality and useful life of pumpkins cv. Regional and Cabotiá minimally processed and stored at 10 oC for 12 days. Physicalchemical quality (mass loss, firmness and color index, soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, SS/TA ratio) and sensory quality (aroma, whiteness incidence and overall quality) were investigated. During storage there was a significant increase (p<0.05) in weight loss and reduction in firmness index, color, soluble solids, titratable acidity and ratio (SS/TA), so that 'Regional' pumpkins were more resistant to the preservation of these characteristics over 12 days compared to Cabotiá. Regarding the sensory aspect both cultivars presented low whitish indexes, however, the characteristic aroma of fresh fruit as well as the overall quality measured as shelf life was significantly better (p<0.05) in the ‘Regional’ pumpkins. With these results cv. Regional is more likely to be used in minimal processing by preserving quality attributes during the storage period. Key-words: Curcubita moshata Duch., Curcubita maximum X Cucurbita Moschata Duch., Cultivars, Postaharvest Conservation