Development and evaluation of physico-chemical quality markers of opuntia and pineapple squash.

Fruits and vegetables are important constituents of the diet and provide significant quantities of nutrients, especially vitamins, sugars, minerals and fiber. The fruit and cladodes of prickly pear provide interesting sources of functional compounds, such as fiber, hydrocolloids, pigments, minerals, and vitamins with antioxidant properties, such as vitamin C. Ananas comosus (pineapple) is a tropical plant with edible multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries, also called pineapples, and the most economically significant plant in the Bromeliaceous family. The squash was developed with the optimization of the concentrations of prickly pear (5-25 %) and pineapple (0-25 %) juice. The developed fruit squash was subjected for evaluation of physico-chemical markers. Results showed significant differences (p<0.05) among the treatments for all the chemical components of the squash blends analyzed except for titrable acidity, TSS and SO2 which did not show significant differences between the treatments on total soluble solids (TSS) in the range of 45 - 460 brix, pH 3.8 to 4.1, titrable acidity (% citric acid) 1.45 to 1.49, total sugars 35.3 to 37%, reducing sugars 15.2 to 16.8%, ascorbic acid 6.5 to 10.5 mg/100g and SO2 348 to 350 ppm were observed in different juice blended squash treatments. The highest TSS (46oBrix), total sugars (37%), reducing sugars (16.8%) was observed in T3 prickly pear and pineapple juice blended ratio (15:10). The high acidity (1.48%) and ascorbic acid (10.9 mg/100g) were witnessed in T5 prickly pear : pineapple (5:20%) fruit juice blended squash; whereas high SO2 content was seen in pure prickly pear squash (T1) and lowest pH (3.8) was seen with the squash blended prickly pear: pineapple (15:10%) fruit juices i.e T3. The study concludes that, prickly pear and pineapple facilitates in the development of functional fruit squash with minor changes in physico-chemical markers and superior sensory attributes.