Impact of Brining on the Sensory Properties of Cashew Apple Jams Prepared With or Without the Skin

Abstract

Cashew apple processing into various by-products is hampered by the problem of astringency. Previous research to reduce this astringency has mainly focused on the juice. The objective of this work was to determine the combinations of NaCl concentration, brining duration, and peeling applied to cashew apples prior to their processing into jams that would reduce astringency and improve organoleptic properties. A factorial experiment, composed of 26 treatments resulted from a combination of brining duration, NaCl concentration, and peeling, was conducted at the LAPISEN laboratory of the Institute National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Yamoussoukro (Côte d'Ivoire). The cashew apples pretreatment was followed by a six-week freezing at -4℃. Jams obtained were both analyzed for tannin contents and subjected to a sensory evaluation. Results revealed a low astringency of the jams after pretreatment, with tannin levels ranging between 0.75 and 2.55 mg/100g of jam, lower than tannin levels in the fresh cashew apples. P-values of the sensory descriptors of the jams were all lower than the alpha-level of 0.05, revealing that panelists could successfully discriminate between the jams. Results of the jam preference test presented to naive subjects revealed that cashew apples with the presence of the skin and soaked in 15 g/L NaCl for one day produced the preferred jam among the set presented to evaluators. This combination of the three factors tested could also be applied to the production of other cashew apple by-products.