Safou, an oilseed native to the Gulf of Guinea, is a highly perishable fruit, making it difficult to preserve and market. Its high perishability is attributed to the intense activity of cell wall degrading softening enzymes and its high-water content. Several alternatives have already been proposed to overcome this difficulty: storage in an aerated environment or at low temperature, pulp drying, oil extraction, processing into various food products (spreads, cookies, etc.). In spite of these efforts, the need for fresh fruit remains strong, thanks to its health benefits. The application of heat treatment in 4th range products is a good example. It has already shown good results in inhibiting the softening enzymes of several fruits, but unfortunately at temperatures harmful to saffron. Thermal denaturation of safou was carried out in boiling water for 1 min up to 10 min for whole fruit and up to 30 min for half pulp. 7 min seems to be the maximum time for effective denaturation of softening enzymes for whole fruit, and 1 min is more than sufficient for half pulp. Monitoring of the conservation of denatured half pulp in the presence of antifungal agents led to drying after 80 days, with an average water loss of 0.2%, probably facilitated by the opening and closing of the storage jars.
