The Brazilian apple production discards 130,000 tons of classified fruit that is annually transformed into apple juice and exported as concentrate. Some minerals have presented contents below the international standards of quality, which in turn is problematic concerning authenticity and commercialization. This aims of this work are to quantify the main minerals in different apple varieties and to observe the effect of processing operations on mineral contents in apple juice. Various apple varieties growing in Brazil were evaluated concerning the mineral content both in the fruit and in the clarified apple juice obtained by pressing and by enzymatic liquefaction. Ash in the fruits of Gala variety (15.6 ± 0.8 g.kg -1) and Fuji (15.1 ± 0.5 g.kg -1) was lower than other varieties (20.3 ± 2.6 g.kg -1). When extracting the juice by pressing, 15% of them were transferred, compared to 23% when the extraction process was enzymatic liquefaction, leaving a large amount of minerals. The mineral contents in apple juice were compatible with the International Federation of Fruit Juice Producers (IFU). However, the value for magnesium (29.24 ± 6.10 mg.L-1) was below the limit suggested by the IFU and that for calcium (38.21 ± 7.20 mg.L-1), lower than that found in the literature and close to the allowed minimum limit, which indicates that these minerals show low levels in Brazilian apple juice.
apple juice; minerals; processing; quality
