Effect of sucrose and antioxidant preservatives on some quality attributes of apricot fruit bars during storage | IJB_INNSPUB
By: Ijlal Hussain, Alam Zeb, Muhammad Ayub, Saleem Khan, Ihsanullah
Intermediate moisture products gaining popularity among the consumers due to ease of use as fast foods and high energy concentrates. Apricot fruit bar were developed by blending various concentrations of sucrose, preservatives and antioxidant and each concentration was called a treatment. There were twelve treatments as; Ts1, Ts2, Ts3 upto Ts12. The samples were stored for six month at ambient conditions and analyzed for functional composition i.e. water activity, acidity, sugars, ascorbic acid, phenolics contents and total carotenoids. The obtained results revealed that higher sucrose concentrations along with antioxidants and preservatives significantly (P<0.05) maintained functional attributes of apricot bars.
Maximum overall quality attributes were retained in Ts12 and Ts11 followed by Ts6, Ts5 and Ts2. Total sugars, ascorbic acid, total phenolics and carotenoid contents of at the termination of 6 months storage revealed that apricot bars have appreciable amounts of the tested parameters in the best treatments. It is concluded that higher sucrose concentrations and antioxidant preservatives maintained nutritional quality of intermediate moisture apricot fruit bars. It offer a best option for entrepreneurs for developing rich nutritional fruit bars for improving the economy of the farming communities by utilize this abundant fruit in to saleable commodity.
