Use of L-arginine and ascorbic acid to preserve minimally processed "Tommy Atkins" mango

Abstract

The mango is a very desirable fruit at a commercial level, but it has a short shelf life, if it is not stored and preserved correctly. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of L-arginine (Arg) and Ascorbic Acid (Asc) on the vacuum preservation of minimally processed Tommy mango. The mango was cut into 3 to 4 mm slices, removing the epicarp and the seed. Subsequently, they were distributed in equal parts of 200 g and each sample was submerged for 2 minutes in solutions of: (Arg-25 mM, Arg-50 mM and Arg- 100 Mm) and (Asc-0,25 %, Asc-0, 50 % and Asc-1 %), finally they were dried at 27 °C ± 2 for 5 minutes, vacuum packed and their storage was evaluated in a climatic chamber at 10 °C and 70 % RH for 0, 3, 7, 13 and 21 days. The physicochemical parameters analyzed were, firmness as cut texture, measure objective color and soluble solids. Asc-1% treatments; and Arg-25 mM, managed to obtain a texture 3 times greater up to 21 days of storage, above the control treatment. The treatments that maintained the characteristic color of the mango without darkening were Asc-0,25%, Asc-0,50% and Asc-1%, contrary to what was evidenced for the treatments with L-Arginine where the darkening and loss of texture increased. as his concentration increased. The soluble solids (°BRIX) had a difference of 3 °BRIX between the fruit that was not immersed (11 °BRIX) and the fruit that was immersed in preservative solutions (8 °BRIX), there were no significant differences in solids during storage. The Asc-1 % and Asc-0,50 % treatments managed to preserve the characteristic color of fresh mango, avoiding the loss of texture up to 21 days of storage.