Araza cultivation and care

araza portada

Araza ( Eugenia entered into ) – a plant from the family myrtle growing in the western part of the Amazon, where the greatest genetic diversity of this species is concentrated, especially in the lower basin of the Ucayali River, in the Peruvian Amazon region. the province of Requena and the confluence of the Ucayali and Marañon rivers flowing into the Amazon River.

Others believe that the primary center stretches from the Loreto region in Peru to the state of Acre in Brazil, where spontaneous populations occur in the wild.

Due to the various properties of the fruit, the plant is considered one of the promising crops of the Amazon.

Scientific name and common names now

The scientific name of araza is Eugenia entered into (Mak-Vo) . Its common names are araza, the most common, although it is also called, Peruvian guava, Amazonian guava (Peru), Brazilian guava, Araza-boy (Brazil).

 Botanical description 

Araza is a shrub or small tree with a height of 1,5 to 5 m with dense foliage, branched from the base, and a rounded crown.

There are two ecotypes in the Amazon Basin, one of Peruvian origin and the other Brazilian.

The Peruvian ecotype is highly regarded for its organoleptic properties, but its fruits are smaller and have 12 to 16 small seeds. 

Fetus – a spherical berry, flattened upwards. The skin or epicarp is very thin, 1 mm. Fruits are from 3 to 5 cm in length, from 4 to 10 cm in diameter, weight from 20 to 50 g, and even depending on the variety, it can weigh from 200 to 400 g.

When unripe, it is green in color, but when it ripens, the skin of the fruit turns yellow.

Pulp , or mesocarp, fleshy, thick, juicy, sour, aromatic and orange in color, it is used to produce juices, nectars, jellies, even a liqueur called araz wine, and yoghurt.

The pulp makes up 70% of the weight of fresh fruit.

Araza because of her acidity (pH 2,66-3,43) is almost never consumed naturally, but as a soft drink made from frozen pulp.

However, its high acidity can be somewhat neutralized by mixing it with other juices. 

After collecting the fruit is very tender and is very easy to deteriorate, so it must be treated immediately.

Some growers grind it by hand, remove the seed and freeze it in plastic bags to prevent it from decomposing quickly and take it to markets. 

Subspecies

Makvo described two subspecies Eugenia entered into in 1956 year , which can be considered independent species if they are geographically isolated: Essubsp. stipulated и  It is subsp. sororia.

Eugenia estipitata estipitata

Subspecies stipitata  – a tree from 12 to 15 m tall, with sparse foliage.

His fetus is a flattened spherical berry, measuring length from 3 to 5 cm, and from 4 to 7 cm in diameter, and weighing 20 to 50 g. 

Pulp not very aromatic and acidic, and its seeds are plentiful.

Eugenia estipitata sororia

Subspecies. sororia – a shrub or small tree 1,5 to 5 m high, with dense foliage and a rounded crown. 

Fetus is a spherical-concave spherical or berry, in size from 2 to 12 cm long, from 1,5 to 15 cm in diameter and weighing up to 420 g, and 800 g of samples have even been obtained. 

His flesh juicy, yellowish, aromatic and bitter.

It contains from 3 to 22 seeds. These two subspecies differ in growth characteristics, number of stamens, fruit size and reproductive system.

It is claimed that sub. soroyra more productive than others. 

 Agronomic techniques

As a rule, araza grows in fertile soils with good drainage, although it has a great adaptive capacity, as it also grows in poor, low fertility, and even poorly drained soils.

Perfect climate

It is believed that the most important factor for growing araza is the climate, in particular, the average monthly temperature of 18 ° C to 30 ° C and the rainfall regime of 1500 to 4000 mm per year.

The plant grows without problems in areas with a relative humidity of 80%, an average temperature of 26 ° C and an annual rainfall of 2 to 000 mm.

Harvest

The plant produces all year round, it harvested about four times a year , without exact seasonality, which is a great advantage for its commercialization.

However, another of its most prominent characteristics is fast perishability of fruits , which is one of the serious restrictions on their distribution in domestic or foreign markets.

One of the reasons for the expansion of crops is the lack of knowledge among farmers about their agronomic management and fruit use.

Each plant of production age produces 20 to 35 kg of fruit per year. According to experts, its production varies greatly – from 2,5 to 60 t / ha / year. Others estimate it at 15 t / ha / year (Mejía, Narváez, Restrepo 2006). 

The araza plant begins fruit production after the second year of implantation, with the most massive commercial production reaching between 5 and 12 years of age.

It is estimated that the cultivation of araza begins make a profit from the sixth year.

 Table Power Araza

Cellulose from Araz contains:

  • 11,9% protein
  • 49,2% sugars
  • 39% dietary fiber and
  • 4% ash.
  • Its water content ranges from 90 to 94%.

Amino acids:

Among the main amino acids, which are presented in it:

  • Glutamine,
  • Asparagine,
  • Girl,
  • Leucine,
  • Lysine,
  • Arginine,
  • Phenylalanine,
  • Isoleucine.

Sahara

A fraction of it sugars includes fructose, sucrose and glucose.

Vitamins

The pulp is also a good source of vitamins A (7,75 mg), B1 (8,84 mg) and C (7,7 mg per 100 g dry pulp).

Content ratings vitamin C vary considerably between authors. Esmeraldas-Gamboa and Nazareno-Arroyo (2018) compared the vitamin C content of araza fruits from Peru and Brazil, yielding 31,78 and 33,70, respectively.

Minerals

On the other hand, in it high content potassium , although it also contains other minerals, to a lesser extent, such as calcium, magnesium and phosphorus .

 The chemical composition of the pulp complaint

The most important chemical component of araza is its high concentration phenolic acids , which increase during the ripening of the fruit and decrease during the aging process, when rotting is observed. This concentration differs depending on the production area.

A study in the Amazonian provinces of Napo and Pastaza in Ecuador found that the amount of polyphenols in araz fruit in Napo averaged 947,26 mg-g, while the amount of polyphenols produced in Pastaz was 837,14 mg-g (Lescano-Castillo 2016).

Something similar happened with measurements of protein, Brix, fiber and acidity, recording the highest levels for Napo araza fruit compared to pastase.

Thus, it is believed that the environmental conditions of the production site affect the polyphenol content and bromatological performance. 

 The importance of phenolic compounds   

Phenolic compounds give fruits and vegetables the antioxidant power that protects against free radicals and their effects. 

The fruit’s highest antioxidant capacity has been found to be in the skin, not the pulp.

Cooking fruits is also known to reduce antioxidant activity, with a few exceptions, such as tomatoes, where cooking does not significantly alter the amount of lycopene and its flavonoids.

Antioxidant activity depends on the type of fruit, the variety used and the color of the fruit (Coronado et al 2015).

How do free radicals affect our health?

A free radical is a shape that has one or more unpaired electrons in its outer orbital structure, making it highly reactive and key to the formation of other free radicals in the chain.

Oxidative stress (EO) is an imbalance between prooxidants and antioxidants, with a tendency to shift towards prooxidants, causing changes in biomolecules that can cause cell death.

This imbalance in the oxidative system is likely the cause of many cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, gastric and endocrine disorders.

It should be borne in mind that MA is different from the psychological stress that is often experienced by a person who is exposed to constant social pressure in everyday life (Coronado et al 2015). EO is associated with cells and the action of free radicals that affect them.

Free radicals are released during human metabolism, but they can increase to high risk levels due to constant exposure to environmental pollutants, radiation, drugs, stress, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, or the consumption of toxins such as alcohol. , tobacco, drugs, etc.

In addition, free radicals can oxidize the body’s protein, lipids and DNA (Lescano-Castillo, 2016), affecting the structure and function of healthy cells in the body, causing mutations that cause degenerative diseases such as cancer.

On the other hand, free radicals are the pathogenesis of at least fifty serious diseases.

Eating fruits and vegetables can be a way to neutralize free radicals especially fruits such as araza, which contain high concentrations of phenolic compounds that protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. 

 Antioxidants in Araz

Among antioxidants, there are several families of active ingredients such as polyphenols (including flavonoids and tannins) and phytoestrogens.

Flavonoids include anthocyanidins (bluish red from strawberries), catechins (green and black tea), citroflavonoids (orange from citrus fruits), isoflavonoids (soy), and protoanthocyanidins (in grape seeds and wine red) (Coronado et al 2015).

phenolsfenoles
Myricetin (flavonoids)

Araza fruits are rich in antioxidants. But the perishable fruit reduces its antioxidant capacity.

Therefore, it is important to reverse these spoilage effects, which also affect the fruit’s appearance and organoleptic qualities.

It is known that the consumer chooses a fruit in accordance with its perception, that is, its sensory characteristics, which are the result of the appropriate storage conditions of the product (Hough, Fiszman 2005).

Which is very remarkable in the case of araza, which possesses excellent antioxidant properties . This is evidenced by its high content of ascorbic acid (30 mg / 100 g of the main pulp) and the total amount of phenolic compounds (64 mg of gallic acid in 100 g of the main pulp).

This group of compounds has antineoplastic, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory action and reduces the risk of degenerative and coronary diseases by acting as free radical scavenging antioxidants and as synergistic agents such as ascorbic acid, phenols and phenols. carotenoids.

The use of natural antioxidants appears to be more effective than the antioxidants found in commercial formulas, the indiscriminate and excessive use of which, as well as their mixtures with other toxins, can harm the human body. 

 Manufacture Arazá

Araza is a species distributed throughout the Amazon basin, but little cultivated, with the exception of Brazil and Peru, and a little in Ecuador (in the Amazon provinces), despite its great importance and high relative prices in the international market.

black and white drawing of araza plantdibujo blanco y negro de la planta de araza
Eugenia stipitata Источник: Megustanlas raspberry [CC BY-SA]

Perhaps due to its significant limitations, as it is a perishable product, which poses big problems for its commercialization even in regional markets and much more for export, unless measures for conservation of pulp are used, which allow to extend the life of the pulp. product. 

However, Araza is slowly spreading. And in the Amazon regions of Colombia and Ecuador, there are productive businesses.

But there is still much to be done.

In Colombia, for example, it is grown by small producers who plant it in small plots and with little technology (Nastur, Benavides, Barrera-Silva, Pardo Rozo, 2016). 

The araza plant is threatened by pathogens that negatively affect the appearance of the fruit. This is the case with anthracnose, which appears as yellowish spots on the fruits, and then they begin to turn black.  

Medicinal use

Araza is used in folk medicine to treat cholesterol, diabetes, excess uric acid, liver and kidney diseases.

Some, given its intense aroma, have explored the possibility of using araza to create spirits (Delgado 2004; Vargas, Rivera and Narváez 2005).

There is a perfume in Colombia called “Arazá” (Martillo-Pazmiño, Loayza G., Duque-Yépez 2014). And even with araz the result is a moisturizer в combined with tomato pulp (Villacis-Vargas 2014).  

Processing the pulp to preserve it

Araza fruits are difficult to transport because of their tenderness and tendency to rot.

Arasa-BoiAraçá-Boi
Arasa-Boi Source: Edvaldopandolfi [public domain]

Transportation is carried out in rigid and durable containers, the capacity of which should not exceed 15-20 kg. Although it is advisable to process its pulp as soon as possible after harvest, by freezing it.

It is generally recommended to locate the pulp processing plant as close as possible to the production area. 

For the first two days, the fruits are stored without problems at room temperature (26 ° C), and from that moment their deterioration becomes obvious.

From the fourth day, some sensory characteristics deteriorate: brown spots appear on the skin of the fruit, the texture softens, the original aroma is lost.

On the sixth day, its sensory characteristics deteriorate greatly, and the content of ascorbic acid and its phenolic compounds is markedly reduced. 

Deterioration of fetuses can lead to high production of reactive oxygen species (EROS), which damage cellular components and are associated with degenerative processes.

EROS is produced in plant cells during maturation and increases during aging.

Eating fruits and vegetables strengthens the human antioxidant system. Among the fruits recommended for consumption, araza stands out its antioxidant capacity .   

Preservation methods

Given its perishability, various methods of preserving the pulp have been investigated.

Slow freezing

The slow freeze treatment was tested at minus 20 ° C, stored for four months and evaluated for changes every 15 days.

As a result of processing, it was possible to preserve a sample with good sensory qualities during the first month of storage, maintaining unchanged total phenolic, carotenoids and antioxidant activity, observing changes in texture and content of ascorbic acid (Mejía, Narváez, Restrepo 2006; Vargas, Rivera, Narváez 2005, Hough, Fiszman 2005). 

Combined cooling

Another method of processing araza fruit for storage is cooling combined with thermal or intermittent shock, as well as the use of a modified atmosphere. 

With these methods, it has been possible to maintain the fruit’s useful life of 15 days, reducing weight loss, softening, browning and decay, while maintaining their organoleptic characteristics for a longer time.   

Anna Evans

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