MSc

The study, entitled “Development of an extruded product from raw jackfruit was carried out at the Department of Home Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, during the period 2013-15. The main objective of the study was to develop an extruded product viz. noodles from raw jackfruit and ascertain its physical, chemical, nutritional, cooking and shelflife qualities.
The preliminary processing methods for development of the product were standardised. Thus, dimensions of bulbs and seeds, blanching and boiling time and immersion in various pre-treatment media for different durations of time were identified. Raw jackfruit bulbs and seeds were processed into flour and their quality was evaluated.
Analysis of nutritional and chemical quality revealed that seed flour had higher levels of nutrients than bulb flour; energy (353 kcal), protein (10.48g), carbohydrate (81.46 g), magnesium (338.04 mg), calcium (308.56 mg), sodium (60.63 mg) and potassium (1478.37 mg). The nutrient composition of bulb flour was analysed for energy (329 kcal), carbohydrate (74.12g), protein (1.53 g), calcium (30 mg), sodium (35.06 mg), magnesium (0.13 mg) and potassium (328.11 mg) in hundred grams (dry weight basis). Shelf life quality revealed that bulb flour is more stable with respect to moisture, insect and microbial infestation.
Six treatments comprising of different combinations and proportions of refined flour, jackfruit bulb and seed flour were tried out for processing of noodles. These composite flour combinations formed the base material for noodles. Noodles were extruded with the Barbender single screw extruder at CTCRI Sreekaryam, Thiruvananthapuram.
The physical characteristics ascertained for the products were- colour, bulk density, true density, swelling index. Extrusion behaviour was evaluated with respect to three parameters namely residence time, appearance and uniformity of strands. Whiteness index (an indicator of colour) ranged from 66.20 to 85.36. Treatment T3 (5:3:2) had revealed higher bulk density (0.91g/cm3) while treatment T6 (5:2:3) showed the least value (0.78g/cm3). The lowest value for swelling index (1.05) was obtained for the treatment T5 (5:1:4) while T4 (5:4:1) was seen to have the highest value for swelling index (1.46). No significant difference for true density was observed among the treatments.
Cooking characteristics analysed were cooking time, cooking loss, cooked weight and water absorption. When T6 recorded lowest time for cooking (8.26 min), T4 took the highest time (9.36 min). Cooking loss ranged from 9.13 to 15.37%. T4 was observed to have the highest cooked weight (24.62g) and T7 (commercial noodles) had the lowest (19.87g). There was variation with respect to nutrients in all treatments. Among the developed noodles calorie (380 kcal), carbohydrate (70.91) and protein (13.49) content was highest in T5.
On organoleptic analysis, T5 obtained the highest values with respect to appearance (4.59), colour (4.77), texture (4.89), and taste (4.87) and over all acceptability (4.78). These values were seen to be lower than the values of control but this difference was not statistically significant.
When the products were packed and kept for storage for 3 months in HDPE and laminated pouches, it was observed that moisture, microbial contamination, sensory qualities did not show significant change irrespective of packaging material. Physical characteristics, shelf-life parameters, nutrient and chemical profile, were seen to be on par among the treatments. However T5 and T6 can be recommended with respect to better sensory qualities. (Refined flour, jackfruit bulb flour and jackfruit seed flour in the ratio of 5: 1: 4 and 5: 2: 3).
From the above study, it can be concluded that noodles with high consumer acceptability can be developed from this underexploited fruit, which has good nutritional, organoleptic and shelf life qualities.