Products elaborated from cashew are good alternatives for their utilization and for consumption after harvest period. This work aimed to characterize hamburgers made from cashew apple and to compare their characteristics with the ones from commercial products. Four kinds of commercial products were bought, one made of meat and the others made of vegetal protein. Hamburgers were analyzed for their physical chemical characteristics (protein, fat, moisture, ash, carbohydrates, water activity and pH) and sensory acceptance (appearance, flavor, taste, texture and overall acceptance). Great variations were observed among hamburgers characteristics: proteins from 5.75 to 12.95%, fat from 5.79 to 16.44%, moisture from 45.83 to 63.71%, ash from 2.89 to 4.75%, carbohydrates from 16.35 to 33.99%, water activity from 0.958 to 0.983 and pH from 4.75 to 6.78. Cashew hamburgers showed less pH, protein and fat content than the major commercial products. Great variations were also observed for sensory acceptance, being within 6.2 to 7.8 for appearance, 6.1 to 7.9 for flavor, 5.7 to 8.0 for taste, 5.9 to 7.9 for texture and 5.9 to 7.9 for overall acceptance. Average sensory notes were nearly like slightly (note 6.0) for all analyzed attributes of cashew hamburger.
Anacardium occidentale L.; processing; composition; hamburger; physical-chemical parameters
