Avaliação das características físico-químicas e sensoriais de óleo de café torrado (Coffea arabica) durante armazenamento em diferentes temperaturas

Abstract

The shelf life of a vegetable oil depends on some variables which involves steps from cultivation, extraction, transport and, mainly, storage. Oxidation processes are responsible for reducing the useful life of the lipid raw materials. Among the oxidation processes, rancidity is the main alteration that occurs, resulting in considerable changes in the final and sensorial quality of the vegetable oils and determining, in a direct way, its shelf life. Auto oxidation, thermal polymerization or thermal oxidation are also chemical changes that occur in vegetable oils, and these reactions are accelerated by poor storage and by heat. Roasted coffee oil is a product of very high added value, since its market value is much higher than the main raw material, coffee. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of roasted coffee oil (Coffea arabica) in a period of 12 months, stored under refrigeration and at room temperature. In the analysis of acidity there was no great variation due to the low amount of lipase in the oil, the peroxide index increased during storage, however, it remained within the limit established by the current legislation, which is a maximum of 15 mEq kg-1. The iodine and refractive index showed an increase after six months and a small decrease after twelve months of storage due to small changes in fatty acid configurations. The saponification index after sixth months increased due to an increase in the amount of fatty acids with low molecular weight and the caffeine content remained constant, without significant variations, while density increased in both temperatures, due to molecular interactions. Aromatic compounds were more stable at refrigeration temperature during six months of storage. Chromatographic analysis demonstrated changes occurring with fatty acids, were one can notice changes in oleic and linoleic fatty acids. The viscosity of the coffee oil varied only under refrigeration, due to the formation of crystals (polymorphism). Sensory tests demonstrated that the samples did not differ significantly from each other at a significance level of 5%. In general, coffee oil showed stability and conditions of use at both storage temperatures (6 °C ± 2 °C and 25 °C ± 2 °C) during the 12 month period.