Convective drying and physicochemical evaluation of passion fruit peel flour

Northeast of Brazil stands out in fruit production, where passion fruit is regarded as one of the major cultures with significant productivity nowadays. The great interests of agribusiness focus on production of various products such as pulp, juice and fresh consumption. However, fruit processing generates a large amount of waste, as the peel of passion fruit. Peels usually have high nutritional value and great potential of industrialization, but most of the time it is thrown away, causing environmental problems. In this context, this work aimed to study the drying of the peel of yellow passion fruit, in convective dryers, on UFERSA campus Caraúbas-RN, targeting your future use for production of flour. The main purpose of this research relates to the better use of this residue and the adequate knowledge to the applicability of drying systems as a way to preserve, obtaining new by-products for use in the food industry. Drying the peel of yellow passion fruit demonstrated to be a product of excellent quality, showing, at the end of drying, peels with great visual characteristics, colored yellow aspect, without traces of obfuscation. The physicochemical composition showed high nutritional levels with great potential for use of this residue. The total drying time was approximately 6.5 hours in the dryer with the convective temperature of 70°C. The drying of the peel of yellow passion fruit in convective dryers is a great alternative for conservation of this residue thereby allowing a better use of the fruit, reducing post-harvest losses and adding value to the product. The flour can be incorporated into the formulation of various products of the food industry.