DHIMAN, ANJU K.PRIYANKA2018-01-182018-01-182017-12http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810039602ABSTRACT The present investigation entitled “Utilization of ripe pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch ex Poir) for the development of fruit bar/leather” was carried out during 2015-2017 in the Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (HP). The study was conducted to develop the fruit bar from ripe pumpkin and to evaluate its quality and storage stability. The pumpkin with 87.81 per cent moisture and 7.60 ⁰Brix TSS was found to be a good source of β-carotene (16.26 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid (15.55 mg/100 g) and crude fibre (0.58%). Among different combinations, the TSS of pumpkin pulp raised to 40⁰B by adding sugar, citric acid (1.5%) and pectin (2%) was found to be the best on the basis of sensory evaluation for the preparation of bar. The overall sensory quality of bar prepared by using concentrated pulp and cooking of ingredients for 2-3 minutes (C4) which contained 9.89 and 8.75 mg/100 g β-carotene and ascorbic acid, respectively was rated superior. A good quality bar can be obtained by pouring the pulp mixture of 3 mm thickness on a greased tray and drying in a mechanical cabinet dryer (60⁰C±2 for 14 hours). The mechanical cabinet dried bar showed lower values for moisture content (17.45%), water activity (0.633) and non-enzymatic browning (0.274). The incorporation of herbal extracts @ 10 per cent was found to be the best concentration to prepare pumpkin-ginger, pumpkin-mint and pumpkin-tulsi bar. Though the values for chemical and sensory parameters decreased significantly during storage but the bars of all the treatments were of good quality up to six months. ALP was observed to be better packaging material as compared to LDPE and PP boxes. The product can be safely stored for more than a period of six months under ambient conditions with minimal changes in quality attributes. Henceforth, it is concluded that ripe pumpkin which otherwise is processed to a limited extent, can be successfully utilized for the production of good quality and nutritionally enriched bar of remunerative cost.ennullThesis