Quality for fresh consumption and processing of some non-traditional tropical fruits from Brazil

Introduction . Brazil is home to a great diversity of tropical, non-traditional fruit species with a potential for consumption *in natura* and agroindustrial processing. The objective of our study was to evaluate the quality of 18 non-traditional fruits from Brazil belonging to the families Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae, Arecaceae, Clusiaceae, Malpighiaceae, Melastomataceae and Myrtaceae. Materials and methods . Samples were collected from areas of occurrence, commercial orchards and collections in Northern, Northeastern and Southeastern Brazil; they were tested for total soluble solids (TSS), soluble sugars (SS), reducing sugars (RS), total titratable acidity (TTA), pH, [TSS / TTA] ratio, starch, total pectin (TP) and soluble pectin (SP). Results and discussion . Parameters varied greatly among the species. Thus, TSS was 4.75–37.07 °Brix; SS, 1.26–17.74%; RS, 2.53–9.92%; TTA, 0.20–2.64%; pH, 2.56–5.38; [TSS / TTA], 3.26–107.70; starch, 0.12–12.65%; TP, 0.15–1.27%; and SP, 0.04–1.49%. Conclusion . Many of the 18 fruits evaluated in this study show potential for consumption *in natura* and agroindustrial processing.