M.Sc.

The present investigation titled “Development and quality evaluation of fruit spreads from avocado (Persea americana Mill)” was conducted at the Department of Community Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2017-2019. The objective of the study was to study the effect of pre-treatments on quality parameters of avocado cultivars and to develop fruit spreads from avocado and their quality evaluation.
Avocado cultivar commonly found in the households of Wayanad namely Purple Hybrid was utilized for the study. Matured fruits were collected from Regional Agricultural Research Station,Wayanad. The avocado pulp was pre-treated independently and in combination with different pre-treatment methods viz., blanching, sugar syruping, honey, brine solution, citric acid and KMS to select the best pre treatment method organoleptically for the development of sweet and spicy spreads .
The best pre-treatment methods identified for the development of sweet spread was, citric acid + KMS + sugar (T5) blend in the ratio of 0.25:0.1:100. The citric acid + KMS + salt (T6) in the combination of 0.25:0.1:10 was selected organoleptically for the development of spicy spread.
For the development of sweet avocado spread, variation in addition of cocoa powder (adjunct) was done keeping the avocado pulp as constant. The best combination among the 5 treatments in both sweet and spicy spread was selected based on sensory evaluation using nine point rating scale. Sweet avocado fruit spread T3 with Pulp(100g):Cocoa powder(30g):Sugar(100g):Citric acid(0.1g) and KMS(0.25g) was selected organoleptically as the best spread among the five treatments.
Based on the organoleptic evaluation the treatment T5 with Pulp (100g): PepperPowder(3g):Salt(2g):TomatoPowder(5g):MintPowder(1.5g):Citricacid(0.1g):KMS(0.2 5g) was selected as the superior blend for the development of spicy avocado spread.
The result of chemical and nutrient analysis of sweet avocado fruit spread revealed that it contain Carbohydrate(11g/100g), Total sugars(1.8g/100g), Reducing sugars(0.6g/100g), Dietary fiber(6.89/100g), Protein(3.1g/100g), Total fat(42g/100g),Calcium(0.238mg/100g),Iron(0.72mg/100g),Potassium(432mg/100g),Sodium( 6.3mg/100g),Total minerals(1.45g/100g), Betacarotene(140mg/100g), Vitamin
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C(7.32mg/100g), Total phenolic content(81.4mg/100g),Total antioxidant activity(423mg/100g).
Chemical and nutrient analysis of spicy avocado fruit spread showed that itcontainedCarbohydrate(8.18g/100g),TotalSugars(0.98g/100g),Reducingsugars (0.78g/100g),Dietaryfiber(6.12g/100g),Protein(3.9g/100g),Totalfat(57g/100g), Calcium(0.267mg/100g),Iron(0.97mg/100g),Potassium(482mg/100g),Sodium (7.3mg/100g),Totalminerals(2.06g/100g),Betacarotene(265mg/100g),VitaminC (19.1mg/100g),TotalPhenolicContent(78mg/100g)withanAntioxidantActivity(520mg/100g).
The nutrient constituents of sweet and spicy avocado fruit spreads were compared with respect to the nutrient constituents of raw avocado fruit.Chemical composition of raw avocado fruit contained Carbohydrate(8.53g/100g), Total sugars(0.3g/100g), Reducing sugars(0.2g/100g), Dietary fiber(6.7g/100g), Protein(2g/100g), Total fat(19.4g/100g),TSS(60brix), Calcium(12mg/100g), Iron(0.55mg/100g), Potassium(345mg/100g), Sodium(5.5mg/100g), Total minerals(1.22g/100g), Beta carotene(417mg/100g), Vitamin C(6mg/100g), Total phenolic content(20.45mg/100g), Total Antioxidant Activity(340mg/100g.
The shelf stability of the developed avocado fruit spreads were assessed by storing the fruit spreads in glass bottle, plastic bottle and polyethylene bags at ambient and refrigerated condition. The acidity, moisture, peroxide value and microbial count were determined initially and at weekly intervals.
During the shelf life studies, it was observed that acidity, moisture, peroxide value and microbial count show significant changes with respective to packaging material and temperature. The acidity,moisture,peroxide content was observed higher in sweet and spicy avocado fruit spread stored in polyethylene bags at ambient temperature and the lowest content of was observed in sweet and spicy avocado fruit spread stored in glass bottle at refrigerated temperature.
Consumer acceptance study revealed that sweet spread (T3) had a score of 8.5 and spicy spread (T5) had a score of 7.56 .The cost of products were Rs.550/Kg and Rs.600/Kg for sweet and spicy fruit spreads respectively.Avocado being a perishable fruit with poor shelf life qualities, cannot be utilized for the development of shelf stable products.The present
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study highlighted that sweet and spicy avocado fruit spread with high consumer acceptability can be developed, branded and marketed successfully