Development of nutritional Spread (ready-to-serve food) from Cucumis callosus: Impact on physicochemical, nutritional, and sensory attributes during storage
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Nutrient deficiency disorders due to malnutrition are rapidly increasing and are associated with numerous co-morbidities. In such a scenario, developing functional food and value-added products from pharmacologically, nutritionally, and therapeutically rich plants is essential. Hence, the present study aimed to develop a nutritionally rich and healthier functional food, i.e., spread from Cucumis callosus (CA) by blending with Malus domestica (MD). Various blends were prepared manually for MD: CA, i.e., C (100:0), T1 (50:50), T2 (25:75), and T3 (0:100). The developed Spread was stored at room temperature and further evaluated for nutritional, sensory, and shelf-life attributes for three months. The developed product indicated that the blending and storage period had a significant (p<0.05) impact on nutritional parameters. The TSS (68.22±0.06 to 69.83±0.050Bx), pH (3.24±0.13 to 4.97±0.00), titrable acidity (1.18±0.08 to 1.66±0.12%), pectin (0.28±0.02 to 0.83±0.03%), β-carotene (2.07±0.02 to 3.00±0.02mg/100gm), vitamin A (3.45±0.03 to 4.98±0.06 I.U.), anthocyanin (1.29±0.38 to 1.71±0.08mg/100gm), reducing sugar (19.88±0.18 to 27.73±0.24%), total sugar (55.01±0.10 to 60.14±0.07%), non-reducing sugar (30.30±0.63 to 34.44±0.15%), moisture (45.17±0.03 to 57.05±0.11%), and ash (0.50±0.02 to 0.56±0.01%) varied significantly. In terms of sensory evaluation, all the blends showed non-significant differences. However, the spread T3 (100% CA pulp) received the highest score, indicating its high sensory acceptability. This indicates that CA can be utilized to develop intermediate moisture food products, i.e., spread with nutritional richness and sensory acceptability.
Authors: Deepika, Debolina Chaki, Daisy Musahary, Sonika Banyal, Sujata Pandit Sharma, Ankur Luthra, Anita Kumari
Language: English
Subfield: Food Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411749883