MSc

The present study entitled "Development of papaya
(Carica papaya L.) based blended products" was undertaken to
develop innovative products viz. nectar, fruit butter, fruit
leather and sauce from the less utilised papaya fruit. The
study was mainly aimed at formulation of fascinating blended
products from papaya inorder to overcome the poor consumer
appeal and low popularity of plain papaya products.
Papaya is a highly nutritious and less expensive
fruit. CO-2 variety which is good in taste and attractive in
colour was selected for the study.
Product -standardisation was undertaken by
experimenting three different proportion of papaya and mango
pulp such as 55:45, 60:40 and 65:35. In the preparation of
blended nectar and blended fruit leather, the formula with
60:40 ratio was most acceptable. In the formulation of blended
fruit butter the proportion with 55:45 papaya and mango pulp
contributed the best quality. While for sauce 65:35 ratio
presented a superior result.
The organoleptic qualities of the standardised
blended papaya products were found to be highly superior to
that to plain papaya products. Blended papaya leather, nectar

and sauce were even better than plain mango items in their
overall sensory attributes, while blended butter was well
comparable.
The chemical composition of blended products remained
highly satisfactory and better balancing than plain products in
various constituents. The products developed were found to
have good quality standards in agreement with FPO
specification.
The cost analysis of the products highlighted that
the expense for the production of plain papaya products was
identified as the cheapest followed by blended products. While
the cost for mango products were found to be the highest. The
fruit product yield ratio. when calculated indicated that the
product yield on blending was slightly lower to that obtained
with papaya alone but higher than the yield observed on plain
mango products.
Consumer acceptance study disclosed that papaya-mango
blended products bagged much wider acceptability among the
consumers than the similar plain papaya products. When nectar
and sauce were developed by blending papaya and mango, the
acceptability of end users to these products remained even
higher to that of mango nectar and sauce. So also the blended
butter and blended leather catched a similar appreciation to
that of mango butter and leather. Consumer preference ranking

of blended papaya products revealed that fruit leather was then
most preferred product. For second and third preference the
consumers identified nectar and sauce respectively. While
blended butter was placed at the forth choice.
The products developed were assessed periodically for
its shelf life performance on chemical, organoleptic and
microbial changes.
The evaluation of nectar for six month revealed that
there was only minor changes in chemical composition upon
storage. Sensory attributes namely appearance. colour,
flavour, taste and consistency of nectar were well retained on
storage being observed only a marginal degradation in the
scores. Negative results were obtained on microbial
examination.
Observation on storage behaviour of fruit butter for
four months revealed its stability with respect to chemical
constituents. The changes in sensory quality parameters of
fruit butter on storage was found to be nominal. Samples
studied were free of deteriorative organism during storage.
Storage performance on chemical parameters of fruit
leather observed only tangible changes with eight months.
Corresponding with the storage changes in each sensory
parameter there was a little downfall in overall acceptability.


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The products also confirmed its safety upon eight months as
proved in the microbial examination conducted.
Monthly evaluation of sauce samples remained highly
sound up to six months as there was no description of
undesirable changes in chemical constituents. Storage favoured
all sensory attributes of blended sauce better than that of
mango and papaya sauce with the minimum percentage quality
1055. The stored product failed to show any evidence to
microbial deterioration.
The study highlighted the feasibility of introducing
blended papaya products into the market with promising consumer
demands thereby contributing value addition to papaya fruit.
The introduction of such diverse forms of processed products
can offer variety to consumers along wi •th creating competition
in the market.