Promoção da biodiversidade do RN: elaboração de preparações culinárias com umbu (Spondias tuberosa Arr.) e cajá (Spondias mombin L.) para alimentação escolar

Abstract

Established through Law 11,947, the National School Meal Policy offers food education and school meals to several students in different types of basic education. Furthermore, the law determines that 30% of the resource be allocated to the purchase of food from family farming.These products, added to the role of the nutritionist in preparing school menus, result in important factors in increasing the contribution of regional fruits and local socio-biodiversity in school meals. In this way, this strategy can contribute to sustainable local growth, traditional food culture and promote greater nutritional aid in diets. As an example of fruits from the local flora, RN presents umbu and cajá, which are produced and sold by family farmers. The fruits have a high antioxidant capacity, as they are rich provitamin A and vitamin C, in addition to being part of the local flora. Therefore, the use of these fruits in school meals can contribute to a healthy diet for schoolchildren and generate income for local farmers. In this way, this research fills a gap in knowledge about the possibilities and potential for using umbu and cajá (fruits of Rio Grande do Norte's socio-biodiversity) in food. The research’s objective was to develop culinary preparations aimed at school meals using fruit pulp from the socio-biodiversity of RN. This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and experimental study, based on the development of culinary preparations, namely: yellow mombin cake and umbu and yellow mombin milkshake. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, according to CAAE opinion 5,498,343. The preparations were standardized through technical sheets containing the ingredients, per capita, total quantities, household measurements, method of preparation, yield, cost of preparations, and as an innovation, the sheets also present information regarding environmental indicators (carbon and water footprints).) found in preparations. For sensory analysis, the acceptability test was used with 118 children aged 6 to 10 years, from the 1st to the 5th year, in a municipal public school in NatalRN. The tasters assigned grades from 1 to 5 using a facial hedonic scale. The cake, a processed preparation, had a golden color, soft texture, yellow mombin flavor and cost R$0.75 per 100g; The umbu and yellow mombin milkshake, a minimally processed preparation, had a light-yellow color, a texture like yogurt, a sweet flavor and cost R$0.22 per 100g. The nutritional value of the preparations showed vitamin C, calcium, and reduced value for energy, lipids, and sodium. The environmental footprints were possibly low, and the results obtained for the sensory evaluation of the yellow mombin cake were “I loved it” (85.19%), “I liked it” (3.70%); “Indifferent” (3.70%); “I hated it” (3.70%) and “I didn’t like it” (3.70%). For the umbu and cajá milkshake, they were “I loved it” (55.17%), “I liked it” (31.03%); “Indifferent” (10.34%); “I didn’t like it” (3.45%) and “I hated it” (0.0%). The preparations indicated good acceptability, with possibilities for diversification for school menus. It is concluded that the use of umbu and yellow mombin pulp in school meals can be a viable alternative to diversify menus and promote the local economy, benefiting family farmers in the region.