USE OF ALOE VERA GEL ON READY-TO-EAT POMEGRANATE ARILS

Pomegranate fruit is highly nutritious but less commercialised, developed than other fruits due to difficulty in peeling before consumption. Therefore, there is a need to develop some processed pomegranate products and ready-to-eat arils. In this work, several treatments were carried out on the arils: a) distilled water, b) citric acid + ascorbic acid (0.5+0.5%), c) citric acid + ascorbic acid (1+1%), d) Aloe gel 50% (v/v), e) Aloe gel 100%, f) treatment b+d, and g) treatment c+e. Treatments were performed by dipping solutions for 10 min and then a mass of 120 g was packed in 280 ml-pots covered with a lid. The arils in the pots were stored at 2-4°C for 12 days, and analytical determinations made after 0, 4, 8 and 12 days were; sensory analysis, microbial counts, gas composition and quality attributes. For all cases, CO₂ and O₂ concentrations at the end of the experiment were similar(7-10 and 10-15 kPa, respectively). Following the opening of the pots, the highest scores in terms of acceptability were those arils packed with Aloe and acids (treatments 6 and 7), although treatments 2 and 6 induced juice leakage due to breakdown of epidermis by acidic conditions. In addition, maintenance of quality parameters in terms of firmness retention and colour was also recorded for treatments 6 and 7. Microbiologically, arils treated with treatments 6 and 7 showed the lowest counts in mesophilic aerobics and yeast and moulds (CFU <10 g^-1) compared with control (CFU > 10³ and 10² g^-1, respectively). Overall, the best treatment for maintaining ready-to-eat arils was the combination of Aloe gel and citric acid + ascorbic acid (0.5+0.5%), which could be considered as an innovative treatment with health repercussions due to of Aloe vera gel which is considered as a functional food.