The purpose of this research was to determine the best portion of pineapple fruit to be used as fresh-cut considering soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA) content and preference, as well as the preferred cut shape for its commercialization. Fruits were manually peeled, delimited in 12 sections of 1cm and sliced. Each slice was evaluated for the SS and TA content. The experimental design was in randomized blocks. The studied factor was the fruit section, with four replicates. The data were submitted to the variance analysis and compared by Tukey's test. The preferred fruit portion was evaluated by "Ranking Preference" test, and the results were analyzed by Friedman's test. Fruits were also evaluated for cut shape by "Paired Preference" test. Considering the SS and TA values no restrictions were found for the total use of the fruit, however the portion delimited by the apical 3 cm was little accepted, suggesting that the portion between the 4th and 12th sections should be used in the minimum processing. Pineapple cut in slices was preferred to cubes.
Ananas comosus; soluble solids; titratable acidity content; sensorial preference; cut shape
