Resumen

FONSECA H., Magda Carolina; RODRIGUEZ A., Jaime Adrián; HERRERA A., Aníbal O.  y  FISCHER, Gerhard. Physico-chemical characterization of the cuque fruit (Solanum vestissimum Dunal) during its maturation and ripening. rev.colomb.cienc.hortic. [online]. 2012, vol.6, n.1, pp.31-40. ISSN 2011-2173.

Solanum vestissimum Dunal is a wild species of Solanaceae family, which grows in Andean forests of Colombia and Venezuela at elevations of more than 1,500 m a.s.l. and is known as "cuque" in the zone around Duitama municipality in the department of Boyacá, Colombia. Due to the scarce information about the physicochemical characteristics of the fruit a characterization in three stages of maturity (green [>90% green color], breaker [50% green, 50% orange] and ripe [>90% orange]) was carried out. Randomly taken fruits in the zone were analyzed after its physical (size, shape, weight, volume, seed number, proportion of fruit parts) and chemical characteristics (pH, total soluble solids [TSS], total titratable acididy [TTA], ascorbic acid and the maturity relation [MR = TSS/TTA]). During maturation and ripening, the fruit increased its size, volume and weight. The proportions of the seeds and peel decreased while the pulp increased in 179.7% from the green to the ripe stage. Up to the ripe fruit, TTA decreased from 2,36% to 1.24%, whereas the TSS and MR increased from 5.30 to 9.63 °Brix and 2.27 to 7.78, respectively. The ascorbic acid of 28.06 mg/100 g in the ripe cuque is comparable with the content in lulo and the cape gooseberry fruit. With the measured characteristics the cuque fruit is projected as a fruit with perspectives in the agroindustrialization.

Palabras clave : size; density; titratable acidity; soluble solids; ascorbic acid.

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