This work aimed to verify chemical and physico-chemical changes in dried pumpkin grains, during the standard storage (room temperature), to evaluate the maintaining of initial qualitative characteristics. Drying of the grains took place in an oven at 100 °C until the moisture content reached 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10%, at T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. Dried samples were stored in rigid polypropylene packing, with cover, for 180 days, at room temperature. Every 30 days, dried grains were submitted to chemical and physico-chemical analyses: moisture content, ashes, pH, total titrable acidity, crude protein, starch, crude fiber, and color. It was checked that there was not any alteration in moisture content for the treatments T1 and T5 (2 and 10% initial moisture content, respectively). Crude protein, crude fiber, starch, ashes, brightness, redness and yellowness remained constant. Increasing of acidity were observed in the beginning and at the end of the storage, for all treatments, as well as a reduction in pH for four of the five treatments.
Cucurbita moschata; agricultural residue; nutritional properties
