Development and Evaluation of Ripe Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) Based Fruit Bars Using Herb Extracts

Aim: Utilization of bulk availability of low cost ripe pumpkin into processed products with high nutritional and functional characteristics.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP, India, between the years 2015-2017.

Methodology: A fruit bar was developed using pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) at different combinations of TSS (30, 35 and 40°Brix), citric acid (1, 1.5 and 2%) and pectin (1, 1.5 and 2%). Further, incorporation of different herbal extracts (ginger, mint, tulsi) @ 5, 10, 15 and 20% was standardized in order to enhance the functional characteristics of the product and best recipe was evaluated for quality and sensory characteristics during storage.

Results: Pumpkin bar prepared at 40°Brix, 1.5% citric acid and 2% pectin got maximum sensory score and was liked very much. In case of herbal extracts, substitution by 10 % was found to be the best to prepare pumpkin-ginger, pumpkin-mint and pumpkin-tulsi bar. During storage, the chemical and sensory parameters decreased significantly (p<0.05) but the bars of all the treatments were of good quality up to six months. ALP was observed to be better packaging material as compared to LDPE and PP boxes. The product was able to retain 61.06% antioxidant activity and reflected 14.7 and 12.25 mm antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively when stored for six months under ambient conditions with minimal changes in quality attributes.

Conclusion: It can be revealed that ripe pumpkin along with herbal extracts can be utilized successfully for the production of good quality and nutritionally enriched bar of remunerative cost.