PHYSICO-BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISATION AND VALUE ADDITION TO SELECTED MINOR FRUITS OF ASSAM
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Date
2016-07
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Publisher
AAU, Jorhat
Abstract
The present investigation entitled “Physico-Biochemical Characterisation
and Value Addition to selected Minor Fruits of Assam” was carried out in order to study
the physico-chemical properties of the selected minor fruits namely Rhus semialata
(Local name- Nagatenga), Baccaurea sapida (Local name- Leteku), Flacourtia gangomos
(Local name - Poniol) and Garcinia cowa (Local name – Kujithekera) and products were
developed from these selected fruits. The qualities of the developed products were also
evaluated. The entire study was sectioned in four well defined separate parts i.e.
1) Evaluation of the physico-chemical composition of the selected minor fruits.
2) Development of products from the selected fruits and their quality evaluation,
3) Quality evaluation of the developed products across storage, 4) Microbial load of the
developed products was studied to determine the shelf life of the products. The physical
parameter of the minor fruits was studied and found that all the fruits possess good
amount of edible portion except Leteku. The shelf-life of Nagatenga (Rhus semialata),
Leteku (Baccaurea sapida), Poniol (Flacourtia gangomas) and Kujithekera (Garcinia
cowa ) was recorded as 1.83±0.28, 6.00±1.00, 4.00±1.00 and 2.33±0.57 days
respectively under ambient temperature. The shelf life of fruits can be extended by
processing it to different food products like jam, jelly and squash. In case of value
addition to Leteku (Baccaurea sapida) only those products should be considered which
required juice of fruits such as beverages as the pulp content (26.16±1.25 g/100g) of the
fruit is very low with high juice content (40.00±2.64 ml/100g). The acid content of
Nagatenga (Rhus semialata) (3.46±0.25%) and Kujithekera (Garcinia cowa)
(4.87±0.19%) are high with good amount of pulp content and so can be consider for
pickle, chutney and sauce making. The juice content of Poniol (Flacourtia gangomas)
was found to be low (20.33±4.04 ml/100g) but the TSS content of the fruit was highest
(21.33±3.21°Brix) and thus can be preferred to develop beverages products from the
fruit. A considerable amount of pectin was present 0.94±0.10%, 0.64±0.07%, 1.55±0.05%
and 0.43±0.07% in the selected minor fruits - Nagatenga (Rhus semialata), Leteku
(Baccaurea sapida), Poniol (Flacourtia gangomas) and Kujithekera (Garcinia cowa)
respectively which are enough to develop jelly but due to pH below 3.0, fruits other
than Poniol (pH -3.28±0.15) do not produce good jelly. The selected minor fruits are
lauded for their pleasing flavor and colour as well as therapeutic properties and
encompassed with most of the nutritional qualities. All the selected minor fruits
Nagatenga (Rhus semialata), Leteku (Baccaurea sapida), Poniol (Flacourtia
gangomas) and Kujithekera (Garcinia cowa) can be considered as good source of fibers
(3.51±0.21 g/100g, 2.37±0.31 g/100g, 8.40±0.33 g/100g and 10.34±0.44 g/100g
respectively), minerals (iron -26.33±1.15 mg, 7.16±1.44 mg, 29.83±1.44 mg and
15.16±2.25 mg per 100g respectively, calcium - 250.44±5.05 mg/100g, 143.24±4.00
mg/100g, 65.83±3.52 mg/100g and 192.81±2.44 mg/100g respectively and potassium -
111.0±7.0 mg/100g, 59.00±4.00 mg/100g, 44.00±3.00 mg/100g and 33.33±4.04
mg/100g, respectively), vitamins (ascorbic acid -216.66±14.40 mg, 24.16±7.21 mg,
43.33±7.21 mg and 67.78±3.40 mg per 100g of fruits respectively and carotenoids -
126.60±0.06 μg/100g, 50.76±0.99 μg/100g, 190.16±0.33 μg/100g and 890.33±0.94
μg/100g respectively) and phytochemicals (the total phenolic content-538.83±5.01 mg,
149.5±2.17 mg, 261.16±1.04 mg and 347.00±3.04 mg per 100g respectively, flavonoid
- 246.45±21.55 mg, 44.64±5.61 mg, 87.17±2.70 mg and 98.03±2.01 mg respectively
and total alkaloid - 104.00±13.52 mg, 170.33±5.77 mg, 143.33±7.09 mg and
156.33±1.52 mg respectively) as well as low in fat (1.02±0.05 g/100g, 0.66±0.09
g/100g, 0.88±0.10 g/100g and 0.25±0.02 g/100g, respectively). Based on the quality
characteristics of the selected minor fruits, following products were developed namely –
squash, spicy squash and sauce from Nagatenga (Rhus semialata), squash and RTS
from Leteku (Baccaurea sapida), squash and jelly from Poniol (Flacourtia gangomas)
and squash, candy and pickle from Kujithekera (Garcinia cowa). The acceptability of
the products was determined through organoleptic evaluation using 9 point Hedonic
scale by 10 panel judges and found highly acceptable, except the colour and
appearancee of Nagatenga sauce was scored low (7 point). The chemical parameters
namely TSS, acidity and pH of the products was evaluated and was within the range of
FSSAI specification (squash TSS- ≥40 and acidity - ≤3.5, sauce TSS- ≥15 and acidity –
≥1, RTS TSS- ≥10 and acidity - ≥0.3, jelly TSS- ≥65 and acidity - 0.5-0.75 and candy
TSS- ≥70). The nutrient content of the products was evaluated and found good amount
of nutrients, that help to improve nutritional status of the people. The present
investigation reveals that the RTS is more susceptible to spoilage due to high moisture
content (89.04±1.13%) and low sugar content (11.93±0.28%) followed by the squashes.
Whereas sugar based products jelly and candy have low moisture content (40.26±1.37%
and 37.59±0.36% respectively) and good amount of sugar (75.01±3.06% and 90.47±5.69%
respectively) may be considered to have long shelf life. Again pickle contain good
amount of oil (17.56±1.86%) and salt which enhance quality retention thus increasing
shelf life. The results as per physico-chemical parameters, sensory evaluation and
microbial assay across storage reveals that in case of Nagatenga squash stored in glass
bottle, plastic bottle and standing pouch are safe for consumption upto 180 days, 150
days and 60 days respectively. The Nagatenga spicy squash stored in glass bottle,
plastic bottle and standing pouch showed a shelf life of 180 days, 150 days and 60 days
respectively. The shelf life of Nagatenga sauce was 180 days in all the packaging
materials. The shelf life of Leteku squash stored in glass bottle, plastic bottle and
standing pouch are 180, 180 and 150 days respectively. The Leteku RTS can be
consume safely upto 30 days when stored in glass bottle and get spoiled in other two
packaging material on the 30 days of storage. The shelf life of Poniol squash stored in
glass bottle and plastic bottle are upto 180 days and when stored in standing pouch the
shelf life is till 150 days. The Poniol jelly stored in all the three packaging material
showed acceptable shelf life across the entire storage period. The Kujithekera squash
stored in glass bottle, plastic bottle and standing pouch are at safe and consumable state
upto 180, 180 and 90 days of storage respectively in terms of physic-chemical
evaluation. The Kujithekera candy was safe and within acceptable quality during all the
storage period (0-180 days) stored in the all the three packaging material. The results
depicts that in terms of sensory, physico-chemical (Significant at P < 0.05) and
microbial evaluation of the developed products in different packing material across
storage it can be concluded that glass bottle packaging is the best packaging materials
for storing both liquid and solid products due to its highly inert, durable and chemical
resistant properties. Plastic bottle can be considered next to glass bottle in terms of light
weight and easy to handle properties and this packaging material also showed less
prominent spoilage characters compared to standing pouch.