Euterpe Oleracea Mart. Berries as Raw Material in Agro-Processes and Consumers Expectancies in French Guiana

Abstract

Since many centuries, the Amerindian populations of Amazonia are consumers of a thick nutritive puree extracted from mature berries of Euterpe oleracea Mart. through manual rubbing of the fruits. Today, in French Guiana, urban populations are fond of this traditional puree, preferred of food products from various palm species. Marketed puree, nectar, has a short shelf life and is very often consumed after final preparation by consumers themselves, as drink diluted and sweetened, sometimes salted, or even associated with the flour of cassava in dish. The high content of anthocyanin in the pulp of wassaye and its antioxidant property has generated interest for this species outside of Amazonia. Beyond a demand continuous and constant supply of traditional nectar of wassaye, in Guiana, by all age brackets of consumers, there are demands for renewed products: stable, without hazard for the consumer health, sweetened, flavored. The development of better handling conditions and transformation of the harvest are needed, to produce raw materials and processed products of better quality, satisfying to quality expectations of today’s consumers.