Czarina D.C Ramirez | Ingrid C. Singian | Christine O. Cruz
Underutilized fruits contain phytochemical substances that have promising health effects on humans. The need to make these fruits commercially available is still on progress and research on them is of little importance. Averrhoa bilimbi or also known as kamias is an indigenous fruit that is cultivated semi-wild everywhere in South East Asia including the Philippines. Spray drying is a drying technique wherein a liquid or slurry feed is turned into a dry powder. Fruit juice powder is widely accepted for human consumption and is a good alternative to convenient and healthy food products. This study aims to develop an instant powdered Kamias fruit juice drink using spray-drying technique. Sensory evaluation, proximate, physicochemical, vitamin C and microbiological analysis were conducted. Seventy-five (75) untrained panelists evaluated the four formulations of fruit juice which are control (100% extract), kamias powder with 30% gum Arabic, kamias powder with 30% maltodextrin and kamias powder with 15% maltodextrin and 15% gum arabic (mixed carriers). It was evaluated according to the five sensory attributes using 9-point hedonic scale. Kamias powdered juice with 30% maltodextrin was considered the best formulation by means of sensory evaluation. Proximate analysis has yielded 3.08-4.70% moisture, 0.31-0.84% fat, 1.13-2.52% protein, 0.14-2.85% ash and 90.83-93.72% carbohydrates content of the four formulations. Physicochemical analysis such as pH, TSS, Bulk Density and aw was also done with a result of 2.54-4.05, 84.31-95.03°B, 0.32-0.42g/ml, and 0.19-0.30, respectively. Vitamin C content of the kamias powders significantly decreased. Kamias powder with 30% Gum Arabic has retained the highest amount of Vitamin C among the three powdered samples. Microbial analysis of the best formulation resulted in negative presence of coliform count and yeast and mold while total plate count was 6x102cfu/g. The encapsulation method using maltodextrin and gum arabic as carriers showed different physical, chemical and sensorial properties. The encapsulation of core material was successful to retain considerable amounts of vitamin C
ISSN 2244-632X (Online)
ISSN 2244-6362 (Print)
Philippine E-Journals
