Retting is the natural fermentation of cassava for the production of puba, a common food of the Northeast of Brazil. In addition to a predominant lactic acid fermentation, the microoganisms also cause the softening of the roots which is important for obtaining a good quality product. The objective of this work was to detect the presence of macerating enzymes and to verify the influence of the addition of a commercial preparation of cellulase and pectinase on the retting of cassava. It was found that the activities of cellulases, xilanase and poligalacturonase increased during natural fermentation. This increase was higher than that expected by natural fermentation when commercial preparations of cellulase and pectinase were added. The additions of these enzymic preparations speeded up the fermentation process increasing the acidity and reducing the pH more rapidly than in the control samples.
Cassava; puba; cellulase; pectinase; natural fermentation; maceration
