The objective of this study was to investigate the relevant technological parameters of the manufacturing process of restructured fruit made from concentrated papaya pulp (16ºBrix) using an experimental delineation method associated with the Surface Response Methodology. The results of the Central Composed Design utilized show that the effect of the variables pectin (x1) and alginate (x2) on the increase in firmness of the papaya fruit restructured is statistically significant. A series of experiments was conducted to confirm the values predicted by the mathematical model proposed for firmness. The restructured fruits produced with the lowest addition levels of pectin (7g/kg) and alginate (7g/kg) exhibited high firmness values of about 3.2kg. These values were approximately 2.4 times greater than the values for firmness predicted by the model, probably due to variations in the pH of the papaya pulps used in the experiments. The results showed that it is possible to manufacture restructured fruit using high levels of concentrated papaya pulp (672g/kg) and minimum amounts of sucrose (364g/kg). Glycerol (x3) used at the concentration of 100g/kg reduced the level of water activity of the concentrated papaya pulp gels to 0.922. Vacuum drying (60ºC/6h; 0.8kgf/kg) of the restructured fruits minimized the problem of surface adhesion and, at the same time, lowered water activity to intermediate levels of about 0.860.
restructured fruit; papaya pulp; hydrocolloids; optimization; drying
