Nutritional Evaluation of Quince Fruit of Baltistan Region and Development of Value-added Products.
Quince fruit belongs to the genus Cydonia, found in Skardu Gilgit Baltistan. It is found at an altitude of up to 8000 feet. It is called bahi in Urdu and shadool in Balti. Quince fruit is among the untapped fruits in Pakistan. It is highly nutritious and has great medicinal and economical value.
Quince is anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and known as hypoglycemic, the fruit has a cooling effect and provides energy to the brain and heart thus its regular use maintains proper health. Quince fruit value-added products were created, such as nectar and jam. Fruits purchased from Skardu were washed, graded, and inspected to remove diseased seeds and infected portions.
We sliced the fruit, cooked it, and then weighed the pulp before adding sugar and other additives. All process parameters are standardized. The fruit and developed products were examined for physical, organoleptic, and chemical parameters. The acidity is 1.25 and the vitamin C content is 19.6 mg/100 g. Fruit nectar and jam were developed and tested as value-added products.
Fruit nectar contained more vitamin C as compared to fruit jam. Total soluble solids/brix of fruit nectar and fruit jam were measured. The quince fruit is a thoroughly washed fruit with an unattractive shape. The small fruits are chopped, cooked, and obtained as pulp.
The cooked pieces of quince fruit passed through the pulpier and were converted into pulp using the pulpier machine.
The A-grade fruits are suggested for fresh sale and table use. Five kilogram pulp was taken and boiled up to 68° Brix, for nectar pulp pasteurized up to 85 °C the product was developed according to the below given flow sheet diagram.
Adv Food Technol Nutr Sci Open J. 2023; 9(1): 1-5. doi: 10.17140/AFTNSOJ-9-178
