Globally, passion fruits are mainly grown to produce concentrated fruit. Commercial processing of yellow passion fruit yields 36% juice, 51% rinds and 11% seeds.
The peel of the fruit is therefore a high-volume side stream of the juicing process that, today, largely goes to waste. Researchers at the University of Johannesburg believe they may have discovered a new use for this by-product that could itself help to cut spoilage in produce supply chains.
The team extracted micro-encapsulated, freeze-dried and powdered passion fruit (Passiļ¬ora edulis Sims) peels from an organic farm. Their metabolomic and other analyses, published in journal Antioxidants, show the powders have the properties needed for a quality, stable, edible food coating. The powders can also be functional ingredients in natural food additives, they noted.
A natural alternative to plastic?
When fresh produce is packaged in plastic it creates a ‘micro-atmosphere’ that slows oxidisation, explained Professor Olaniyi Fawole, from the University of Johannesburg.
“Oxygen is the bad guy, it causes a lot of biochemical degradation. So, we want to limit the oxygen that gets to the produce. And we also want to limit dehydration. Edible food coatings can potentially solve both the oxygen and dehydration problems in the cold chain,” he said. “If you coat the product, you reduce the interference from a high oxygen atmosphere, because there is a barrier. Dehydration is prevented because the coating keeps the moisture on the inside.”
However, any such coating needs to have high antioxidant content to help prevent spoilage due to oxidation and should also contain antimicrobials. An edible coating should not interfere with the colour, appearance or taste of the product, the researchers noted.
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November 21, 2022 at 11:10PM
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Passion fruit could hold the key to combatting food waste and cutting plastic use - FoodNavigator.com
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