Brazilian savannah fruits: Characteristics, properties, and potential applications

The Brazilian savannah is the second largest biome of the country, and it displays great biodiversity. The fruits of the native trees have peculiar characteristics and are recognized for their nutritional and therapeutic aspects. However, little is known about their technological and biotechnological potential applications. The existing information concerning these aspects has never been compiled so far. It is known that many of these fruits contain many bioactive compounds of industrial interest, such as carotenoids and phenolic constituents. Another aspect of the fruit is the high fatty acid content of some species. Pequi, bocaiuva, jatoba, baru, amburama, and buriti, for instance, are among those fruits described as being rich in fatty acids, mostly unsaturated ones. Here, we reviewed 18 species from the Brazilian savannah identified to be of interest because of high potencial for sustained medium- and short-term explorations, under the technological and biotechnological aspects, seeking the development of new products from these scarcely studied raw materials.