Fermented papayacontrol of fermentation process and development of analytical methods towards the determination of added-value bioactive compounds

Resumo

Fermented foods have been used for several years all over the world, due to their unique nutritional characteristics and because fermentation promotes conservation and food security. Papaya is the fruit of the Carica papaya L. plant, traditionally used as a medicinal fruit, but there are also references to the use of the fermented fruit. Fermented papaya has proved to be an excellent antioxidant and a nutraceutical adjuvant in combined therapies against several diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, allergic reactions, anticancer activity, and anemias. Additionally, there is an increasing interest for fermented products with cosmetic applications, mostly in Asian cosmetics. Spontaneous fermentation is carried out with indigenous microorganisms of the used fruit. On the order hand, bioinoculation with the desirable microorganisms could be a strategy to improve the nutritional quality and profile of the product, namely the polyphenols and antioxidant levels. In this study, the bacterium Gluconobacter oxydans was employed to perform bioinoculation. Despite the growing popularity of fermented papaya, there is still a lack of knowledge on the effects of various production parameters, such as the fermentation time, the sugar content, temperature, and knowledge of the compounds that contributed to fermented papaya's health benefits.