Abstract

GONTERO, Mauro; BRANDELLI, Adriano  and  ZAPATA NORENA, Caciano. Production of crystallized fruit from watermelon rind. Cienc. Inv. Agr. [online]. 2010, vol.37, n.2, pp. 55-60. ISSN 0718-1620.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-16202010000200006.

The aim of this work was to produce crystallized fruit from watermelon rind. The following procedure was developed: the outer peel was removed; the material was sliced into 7 mm cubes, blanched for, 0, 5 and 10 minutes, and then treated with 10% sodium chloride solution. This product was treated with solutions of sucrose (30 to 72 °Brix), and dried in a hot air dryer at different temperatures (40, 60 and 80 °C). Products were then analyzed by a sensory panel. The experimental design used was randomized blocks and the results were analyzed by the Tukey's test. The best acceptance of the sensory panel was for the product obtained by 5 minutes blanching followed by drying at 60 °C, whose intensity values for appearance, flavor and gummosis were between 6 and 7.

Keywords : osmosis; watermelon; dehydration; agricultural waste.