Processamento e caracterização físico-química da farinha de 1 berinjela (solanum melongena, l.)

Abstract

The incidence of chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCD) has increased significantly 76 in Brazil, mainly due to stress associated with lifestyle and changes in eating habits. In this 77 sense, dietary intervention based on the reduction of the intake of industrialized foods rich 78 in refined sugars, saturated and trans fat, replacing them with in natura foods and with 79 added nutritional value, is necessary. In this context, interest in so-called functional foods 80 has increased. Among these, the eggplant stands out by its effects for the maintenance of 81 health. One of the ways to reduce losses of this food and to vary the use of this vegetable 82 would be the drying and its transformation into flours for inclusion in several products. 83 Among the byproducts of vegetable processing, flour is an affordable alternative, since its 84 processing is easy to perform, and the nutritional benefits of the final added product of the 85 flour are increased. In this sense, the objective of the present work is to produce the 86 eggplant flour from the integral use of the vegetable and to characterize it physically-87 chemically. For the preparation of the flour, the eggplants were submitted to the 88 dehydration process by means of direct drying in a greenhouse, crushed and sieved and 89 their physicochemical characteristics of pH, acidity, protein, total carbohydrates, lipids, 90 humidity and ashes determined according to methodologies described by the OAC (2010). 91 The results show that the eggplant flour had good physical and chemical characteristics of 92 conservation and also of nutritional value, being emphasized the high content of fixed 93 mineral residue and of total carbohydrates besides low lipid content. These results indicate 94 that eggplant meal may be a potential alternative for the nutritional enrichment of various 95 foods, being possible and practical in the daily diet.