Formulation of palmyra (Borassus flabellifer L.) tender fruit endosperm (PTFE) based nectars

Abstract

The study entitled “Formulation of Palmyra (Borassus flabellifer L.) tender fruit endosperm (PTFE) based nectars” was conducted at the Department of Postharvest Management, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during the period of 2022-2024, with the objective of development and quality analysis of palmyra tender fruit endosperm based nectars. The study was conducted as two parts viz., development of functional nectar and development of PTFE cubes incorporated functional nectar. Good quality, fresh and tender palmyra fruits were collected from market during season. The husk was removed, fresh endosperm was scooped out and utilized for pulp extraction after removing the endocarp. The extracted pulp of palmyra tender fruit endosperm (P) was mixed with juices/extract of three horticultural commodities (C) viz., lime (L) watermelon (W) and sarsaparilla root (S) in different ratios (T1 - 90P:10C, T2 - 80P:20C, T3 - 70P:30C, T4 - 60P:40C, T5 - 50P:50C and T6 - 100% P) independently for the production of blended nectars as per FSSAI specification. The developed blended nectars were evaluated for chemical, nutritional and sensory quality parameters and the best blended nectar prepared using each commodity was selected. The PTFE: lime blended nectar with 90% PTFE pulp and 10% lime juice recorded 21.76oBrix TSS, 0.26% acidity, 1.33% reducing sugar, 35.47% total sugar, 41.77 mg 100g-1 ascorbic acid and 74.75% antioxidant activity with superior sensory scores. Among the PTFE: watermelon blended nectars, the nectar prepared with 50% PTFE pulp and 50% watermelon juice had 23.90oBrix TSS, 1.85% reducing sugar, 46.44% total sugar, 33.81 mg 100g-1 ascorbic acid and 69.58% antioxidant activity with superior sensory scores. In PTFE: sarsaparilla blended nectars, the nectar prepared with 70% PTFE pulp and 30% sarsaparilla root extract had 17.80oBrix TSS, 1.11% reducing sugar, 34.89% total sugar, 40.79 mg 100g-1 ascorbic acid and 72.98% antioxidant activity with superior sensory scores. The blended nectars with 90% PTFE pulp and 10% lime juice, 50% PTFE pulp and 50% watermelon juice and 70% PTFE pulp and 30% sarsaparilla root extract were selected as the best blending ratios based on chemical, nutritional and sensory quality parameters. The selected best blended nectars prepared with 90P:10L, 50P:50W and 94 70P:30S were incorporated with different functional ingredients such as ginger, mint and cardamom extracts in different concentrations (C1 - 1% ginger extract, C2 - 2% ginger extract, C3 - 3% ginger extract, C4 - 1% mint extract, C5 - 2% mint extract, C6 - 3% mint extract, C7 - 1% cardamom extract, C8 - 2% cardamom extract, C9 - 3% cardamom extract, C10 - without addition (control)) independently for the production of functional nectars.The developed functional nectars were initially evaluated for sensory quality parameters for selection of the best formulation from each blended nectars with lime, watermelon and sarsaparilla root. The functional nectars prepared with 90% PTFE pulp and 10% lime juice incorporated with 1% mint extract, 50% PTFE pulp and 50% watermelon juice incorporated with 1% cardamom extract, 70% PTFE pulp and 30% sarsaparilla root extract incorporated with 1% cardamom extract were recorded superior sensory parameters and were selected for further storage study. The three selected functional nectars packaged in glass bottles, pasteurized and stored under ambient conditions along with control (pure PTFE nectar) till the end of shelf life to study the storage stability. The chemical, nutritional and sensory parameters were recorded initially and at monthly intervals till the end of shelf life. The nutritional parameters such as ascorbic acid content and antioxidant activity of functional nectars were decreased during storage period. Functional nectars prepared with 50% PTFE pulp and 50% watermelon juice incorporated with 1% cardamom extract, 70% PTFE pulp and 30% sarsaparilla root extract incorporated with 1% cardamom extract and pure PTFE nectar (100% P) were microbiologically safe upto one month with superior sensory parameters. Functional nectar prepared with 90% PTFE pulp and 10% lime juice incorporated with 1% mint extract was microbiologically safe upto two months with superior sensory parameters. In the second part of the study, uniformly sized PTFE cubes (5%) were incorporated to the three best functional nectars selected from first part and were evaluated for sensory parameters. Among the functional nectars, the functional nectar (70P: 30S) incorporated with 1% cardamom extract and 5% PTFE cubes recorded superior sensory scores and hence selected for further storage study. The selected best functional nectar (70P:30S +1% cardamom extract) incorporated with 5% PTFE cubes along with pure PTFE nectar (100P) with 5% PTFE cubes (control) and pure PTFE nectar without PTFE cubes (absolute control) were packaged in glass bottles, pasteurized and stored under ambient conditions for two months or till the end of shelf