Extraction and characterization of a pectin from coffee (Coffea arabica L.) pulp with gelling properties

About 0.5 ton of coffee pulp is generated for each ton of coffee cherry processed. In the present study, this waste was investigated as a source of pectin. Coffea arabica L. pulp was dried, treated with ethanol and the pectin extracted with 0.1 M HNO3 (14.6 % yield). Chromatographic, colorimetric and spectroscopic methods were used for pectin characterization. It had 79.5 % galacturonic acid, high methoxyl content (63.2 %), low levels of acetylation, protein and phenolics and Mw of 3.921 x 10(5) g/mol. The pectin from coffee pulp was able to form gels with high concentration of sucrose or xylitol and low pH. The effect of pH (1.5-3.0), concentrations of pectin (0.5-2.5 %), sucrose (55-65 %) and xylitol (55-60 %) on the viscoelastic properties was investigated. Gels prepared with xylitol diplayed similar viscoelastic behavior to the gels prepared with sucrose. The results de-monstrated that coffee pulp is a potential source of commercial pectin with gelling properties.