Increase in oil content and changes in quality of macauba mesocarp oil along storage

Abstract

Macauba is an oleaginous palm species from Latin America. It is a rich source of vegetable oil with diverse benefits. However, there are several gaps in assuring post-harvest oil quality of the mesocarp. Thus, ripe fruits were stored at room temperature for 60 days before oil extraction to evaluate fruit and mesocarp oil quality attributes. Physical (decay incidence, water activity), biochemical (specific activity of lipase), physicochemical (acidity and peroxide indices, molar absorptivity at K 232 and K 270 , oxidative stability, total carotene content and mesocarp colour) analyses were carried out. Results show that nonlinear sigmoid response was obtained for most of the parameters evaluated. Decaying reactions related to microorganism's growth, free fatty acid release and oxidation took place along storage. However, the overall oil quality was in the acceptable limits up to 20 days of storage. It is much further than palm oil, the main source of oil in the world.