ELABORAÇÃO E CARACTERIZAÇÃO FÍSICO-QUÍMICA DE FARINHA PROVENIENTE DOS RESÍDUOS DE ABACAXI E DE PEDÚNCULO DE CAJU

As a result of the expansion of fruit growing, the modernization of agriculture and the sharp demand for food in recent years, agro-industrial activities have undergone intense growth. Although this growth in productivity has positive consequences, it also contributes to the aggravation of an environmental problem, the generation of waste. The utilization of residues emerges as an alternative to reduce agroindustrial losses and a great way to accomplish this utilization is the production of flour, considering that flour obtained from fruit residues present advantages over cereal flour such as higher preservation of nutritional values, shorter drying time, different physical and chemical properties. Thus, this study aims to obtain a flour from the pineapple and cashew tree stalk residues, as well as characterize it in terms of its physicochemical properties. The residues were obtained and sent for drying at 60 ° C for 24 hours with air velocity of 1.5 m.s-1. After drying, the product was subjected to unitary grinding operation using a knife mill, resulting in three types of flour: Pineapple residue flour, Cashew stalk residue flour and Flour made from the pineapple and cashew apple blend (1: 1 ratio). And later they were submitted to the physicochemical analyzes. The three flours met the standards established by the legislation regarding the moisture content, as well as having a high carbohydrate concentration and a low water activity, factors that evidence the high fiber content and the low susceptibility to degradation, respectively.