Cereus jamacaru D.C. (Mandacaru): a Promising Native Brazilian Fruit as a Source of Nutrients and Bioactives Derived from its Pulp and Skin

Abstract

Aiming the valorisation of the fruit of Cereus jamacaru D.C. (mandacaru), from the Caatinga biome, the physicochemical and nutritional parameters, total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of its raw pulp and skin were evaluated. Extracts of the lyophilised pulp (PE) and skin (SE) of this fruit were also characterised for their antioxidant capacity parameters, phenolic compounds and for the semi-quantitative elemental analysis of minerals. From the total carbohydrates of the pulp (13.43 g/100 g, in the fresh basis), 79% was composed by total dietary fibre and, from this fraction, 89% was insoluble dietary fibre. The total antioxidant capacity of the raw skin was about 1.5-fold higher than that of the raw pulp, while the improvement of phenolic content in the lyophilised PE and SE was by 5- and 36-folds, respectively, compared with their respective raw samples (fresh basis). The lyophilised SE had the higher antioxidant capacity, requiring only 3.79 g to scavenge 1 g of DPPH radicals. Frequencies of functional groups assessed through the FT-IR spectrum corroborates with the presence of phenolic compounds in the samples. Potassium was the predominant mineral in both PE and SE. These results indicate that mandacaru, currently consumed only locally, can be an important source of nutrients and antioxidants for the general population and also for industrial use.

Keywords: Antioxidant capacity; Energy-dispersive spectrometry; Food valorisation; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; Neglected fruits; Nutritional characterisation.