Keywords :
Cashew apple, Food ingredient, Physicochemical characterization, Valorization
Abstract :
[en] To consolidate its position as the world leader in cashew production (with nut yields of 750,000 tons in 2018), Ivory Coast needs to improve its productivity and strengthen its potential for local processing of this agroresource. The cashew tree has two morphological parts that are the nut (real fruit) and the apple (false fruit). If, however, the cashew nut is of obvious interest, very little valorization is made of the apple although it could present interesting nutritional and nutraceutical properties with a biomass 10 times higher than that of the nuts. This study aims to characterize the cashew apple in order to identify its characteristics, with a view to better valorization. For that purpose, two varieties of cashew apples from Ivory Coast, from two different production zones were selected and dried before physicochemical characterization. The first part of the study on the collection, drying and grinding of apples showed that oven drying was more adequate and bagasse would be easier to process than whole apples. The second part dealing with the physicochemical characterization of dried apple powders, dried bagasse and cashew apple juice, showed that the juices contained more sugars (53.65%), less fat (0.74%) and a low protein content (1.43%). On the other hand, bagasse, which are richer in protein and fat, with 11.46% and 5.35% respectively. Red apples dried in an oven are less rich in sugars with a rate of 24.19% (in dry weight basis). In addition, red apples are richer in protein and drying in oven gives a higher protein content. Indeed, the study showed the unequal distribution of constituents between these samples. Therefore, the study of the apple, for a better valorization would be more interesting with a juice extraction for the production of drinks and a by-product (bagasse) valorization as a source of protein. Thus, cashew apple powder could be used as an ingredient in order to offer foods enriched with functional molecules.
