Development of papaya (Carica papaya L.) based blended products

Abstract

The present study entitled "Development of papaya(Carica papaya L.) based blended products" was undertaken todevelop 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. 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 with creating competition in the market.