Vitamin C in Barbados cherry Malpighia glabra L. pulp submitted to processing and to different forms of storage

Ripe fruits of Barbados cherry Malpighia glabra L. proceeding from the fruit-growing section of Iguatemi Experimental Farm of Universidade Estadual de Maringa (PR), were triturated in a liquefier and hulled in a stainless steel sieve with 25 mesh. The bagasse (seeds and hull) was discarded and the vitamin C content was immediately determined, which was 1.79 g by 100 g of pulp. After that, the integral pulp was packed in glass flasks and submitted to the exhaustion and pasteurization processes and then hermetically closed. After the heat treatment the vitamin C content was 1.54 g by 100 g of pulp. The sealed flasks of Barbados cherry pulp, with and without the aluminum foil protection, were stored for 40 days. The first portion was kept at room temperature, the second in a refrigerator (1 degree C), and the third in a freezer (-18 degrees C). The vitamin C content analysis were realized on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 30th and 40th day. For the flasks stored without the aluminum foil protection, there was a loss of 22.08%, 7.79% and 1.30% and with aluminum foil the loss was of 10.40%, 3.90% and 1.30% for the storage at room, refrigeration and freezing temperatures, respectively. The results show that freezing method is the best form of vitamin C preservation.