Spontaneous postharvest fermentation of açai (Euterpe oleracea) fruit

Açai (Euterpe oleracea) fruit (EOF) are widely commercialized in the Brazilian Amazon. These fruit contain a high bacterial load and are transported on boards stowed inside or outside the holds of small boats. In this context, postharvest parameters were assessed under conditions that simulated these two methods of EOF transport: stowage in closed polystyrene boxes, simulating the inside of cargo holds, i.e., transport in a closed system; and open baskets, simulating transport in an open environment, i.e., transport in the prow or bow of the boat. EOF suffered spontaneous fermentation of alcoholic, acetic, and lactic types in the closed system, which is the most common type of transportation of this fruit. In the closed system, there was a predominance of lactic acid bacteria over acetic acid bacteria, with 82% and 95% of the initial content of d-glucose and d-fructose being consumed, respectively, after 27 h of experiment. The weight loss reached 1.7% and there was a logarithmic decrease of the major phenolic compounds of the fruit in the closed system, with losses of 78% of cyanidin-3-rutinoside, 88% of cyanidin-3-glucoside, 78% of homorientin, and 72% of orientin after 27 h, which was higher than in the open system (58%, 66%, 73% and 62%, respectively). Analyses on EOF stowed in a closed system indicated that the respiratory rate was characteristic of a non-climacteric fruit, i.e., it showed a logarithmic decay in the production of CO2 (R2 = 0.995; P < 0.05). Thus, transport in a closed system results in more drastic nutritional and functional changes on EOF than when transport is carried out in an open system, suggesting that transportation in continuous aerobic conditions and a short period of time between picking and processing are preferable.