The Campomanesia xanthocarpa Berg (Myrtaceae) is a Brazilian native fruit, widely abundant in the Southern region. Despite their large fructification, in addition to nutritional and attractive sensory characteristics, these fruits are not collected, being lost in the fields. In this work, the fruit pulp without seed (1500 g) was crushed in ethanol/water at a ratio of 1:4 (v/v), refluxed for 15 minutes at boiling temperature. The residue obtained was subjected to sequential extractions. The extractions were optimized using a factorial design 2², with the concentration of citric acid (0.5 and 5%) and temperature (50 and 100 ºC) as variables. The polysaccharides were characterized according to their chemical composition and rheological profile. The high concentrations of uronic acids, arabinose and galactose, detected in all fractions, indicate that they consist of pectin. The results showed that the extraction method was efficient for fractionation of pectin from different areas of the cell wall. The polysaccharides extracted from the fruit pulp of gabiroba showed a pseudoplastic behavior. All the fractions were resistant to temperature variations. When these gels are heated up and cooled down, they adopt their original structure.
Pectin; rheology; chemical composition
