Passion fruit albedo preparation
Mature yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis var. flavicarpa), having
no visible external cuts or spoilage, was purchased from a local market.
To obtain the passion fruit albedo (PFA) fiber, squeezed fruit halves
were peeled manually to remove the external peel and obtain a coproduct
formed by the albedo. This co-product was triturated for 60 s
in a vertical cutter (Tecator 1094 Homogeneizer, Tekator, Hoganas,
Sweden) to obtain uniformly sized pieces and increase the contact
time during washing (5 L of water per 1 kg of product). The mixture
was stirred constantly and the water temperature was kept at 45 °C
during the 8 min that the washing process lasted. The whole product
was pressed to drain liquid waste and then it was dried at 45 °C for 36
h to improve the product shelf-life without addition of any chemical
preservative. A grinder mill and sieves were used to obtain a powder
particle size of less than 0.417 mm