MSc

The study on "Quality evaluation of Indian gooseberry (Emblica
officinalis Gaertn.) products" was undertaken to evaluate the different Indian
gooseberry products for their acceptability, chemical composition and storage
stability.
Six best accepted Indian gooseberry products viz., tutifruiti, preserve,
salad, samosa, jelly and candy were selected from a total of eighteen Indian
gooseberry products by conducting a preliminary acceptability study using score
card in 120 individuals .
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The fresh, sugar treated and salt treated Indian gooseberry and the
selected products were analysed forchemical constituents like moisture, vitamin C,
tannin, sugar, fibre and iron and found that the salt treated gooseberry had a lower
vitamin C, retention when compared to the sugar treated gooseberry. Among the
products, the maximum vitamin C was observed in salad and the least in samosa.
The maximum moisture and fibre content was observed in salad, sugar content in
jelly, tannin content in candy and iron content in preserve.
The yield and cost ratio of the selected products was computed. Based
on the ratio candy was found to be the most economical product.
Among the six Indian gooseberry products selected for the storage
study, two products viz., samosa and salad were found to be highly perishable and
were deleted from the detailed storage study. The remaining four products viz.,
candy, preserve, tutifruiti and jelly were stored under ambient and refrigerated

conditions in glass bottle, polypropylene bottle and polypropylene bag for a period
of six months and their chemical constituents, organoleptic qualities and microbial
load were analysed at monthly intervals. The chemical constituents viz., moisture,
vitamin C, tannin, sugar, fibre and iron were analysed. All the chemical
constituents were found to reduce with the storage period except sugar which
showed an increase with the storage period. All the products were found to retain
better vitamin C when stored under refrigerated condition. Compared to the
products stored in ambient condition the refrigerated products were found to
contain higher tannin and lower fibre content. No significant variation in iron
retention was t>bserved with storage condition. Refrigerated storage condition was
found to be ideal for better retention of nutrients.
With regard to packaging systems all the products exhibited higher
vitamin C retention when stored in glass bottle and the least when stored in
polypropylene bag. Sugar, fibre and iron content of the products were also found to
be more when stored in glass bottle when compared to the products stored in
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polypropylene bag. Thus glass bottle was found to be the ideal packaging system
compared to polypropylene bottle and polypropylene bag with regard to chemical
constituents.
The organoleptic quality attributes VIZ., appearance, colour, flavour,
texture and taste were evaluated in all the products stored under ambient and
refrigerated condition in glass bottle, polypropylene bottle and polypropylene bag
at monthly intervals for a period of six months. The evaluation revealed that with
regard to all the quality criteria analysed the preserve and tutifruiti were best




accepted by the 6th month under both storage condition. The ideal storage period
for candy and jelly under both ambient and refrigerated condition was for three
months.
With regard to the quality parameters like the appearance, colour,
flavour and taste all the products exhibited the maximum acceptability when stored
in glass bottle and the least acceptability was for the products in polypropylene bag
except for texture. Thus the glass bottle was found to be the ideal packaging
system for Indian gooseberry products in terms of organoleptic qualities also.
The results of the above study revealed that compared to other
processed fruit products Indian gooseberry products have better nutritive value.
It
The products were found to retain a significant amount of vitamin C even after
storage. The maximum retention of vitamin C was found in candy (38%) stored in
glass bottle under refrigerated condition. The glass bottle storage was found to be
ideal for higher retention of chemical constituents and for best acceptability.
The study highlighted the significance of processed amla products as a
solution for the increased consumer demand for nutritious, delicately flavoured and
economical fruit products all throughout the year.