Changes in Proximate Composition, Vitamin C and β-Carotene Contents of Oven Dried Pawpaw (Carica papaya) Fruit as Influenced by Pre-treatment Methods
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2021-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
FUOYE Journal of Engineering and Technology (FUOYEJET)
Abstract
A common way of maintaining essential nutrients in fruits and vegetables is through novel food processing techniques such as pre-treatment. This study investigated the influence of pre-treatment methods on the proximate composition, vitamin C and β-carotene contents of oven dried pawpaw. Fresh, ripe pawpaw fruit were peeled, sliced and pre-treated with three pre-treatments – ascorbic acid dip (0.45% w/v), honey dip (0.25% v/v) and steam blanching (100 °C). The fruit slices were soaked in ascorbic acid and honey solutions for 4 min while steam blanching was done for 2 min. Untreated pawpaw sample served as the control. The treated and control samples were dried at an average temperature of 65 °C. Results showed that vitamin C of dried pawpaw samples pre-treated with honey dip had the highest retention of vitamin C (116.05 mg/100g) compared to ascorbic acid treated (98.90 mg/100g), steam blanched (109.02 mg/100g), and control samples (77.02 mg/100g). In terms of β-carotene, pawpaw sample treated with ascorbic acid solution had the highest value of 12.68 mg/100g. The use of honey and ascorbic acid solutions as treatments prior to drying can improve the retention of nutrients such as vitamin C and β carotene in dried fruits.
Description
Keywords
Pre-treatments, proximate properties, vitamin C, β-carotene