Abstract

MELO FERRARI, Marianela; GLORIO PAULET, Patricia  and  TARAZONA REYES, Gladys. Effect of maturity on components of commercial value (tannins and gum) tara Caesalpinia spinosa (Molina) Kuntze. Rev. Soc. Quím. Perú [online]. 2013, vol.79, n.3, pp.218-228. ISSN 1810-634X.

Peru leads the export of tara (Caesalpinia spinosa). However, there is no information on the effect of the maturity of fruits over their commercial value components. To evaluate this effect, tara fruits were analyzed from two geographical areas: Huari (wild) and Pachacamac (cultivated) in four maturity levels ranging from 2.5 up to 6.5 months after flowering. Also, in the fresh fruit, moisture, weight and CIELAB color coordinate a* was determined. In the seedless crushed dry pods, it was analyzed the tannins, acidity (% gallic acid) and soluble solids. From the seeds, the gum was extracted by thermal-mechanical procedures and the viscosity was measured. We found that for the green fruit with seeds already formed, collected between 2.5-3.5 months after flowering, the levels of tannins, acidity and soluble solids had values that remained constant up to 5 - 5.5 months, declining at 6 months of permanence of the fruit on the tree. The viscosity of the gum from Pachacamac seeds was constant, whereas for Huari seeds had a growing trend. It was concluded that the best time for harvesting tara pods was between the 5th and 6th month after flowering.

Keywords : Tara; Caesalpinia spinosa (Mol) Kuntze; maturity; tannins; gums; tara.

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