Physico-Chemical analysis of honey based herbal gooseberry candies

Abstract

The Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis L.) is one of the cheapest medicinal fruits due its highest ascorbic acid content160 times than that of apple. A novel concept of osmotic dehydration by preparing osmotic solution (i.e.,60 0β and 70 0β) using 1:5 (w/w) sucrose-honey combination incorporated with natural herb powders, viz., cardamom, ginger, basil and salt as a preservative. The osmotic dehydration (OD) of gooseberry segments (10 mm thick) were carried out at different process temperatures (i.e.,300C,400C and 50 0C)at an immersion time of 10 h followed by hot air drying (600C and 2.50 m/s) and sun drying (control). The quality evaluation of gooseberry candies was carried out on the basis of physical parameters (i.e., rehydration ratio, and biochemical parameters (i.e., moisture content (%(wb)), non-enzymatic browning (OD), total sugar (%), ascorbic acid (mg/100 g) and reducing sugar (%)), microbial as well as sensory analysis. It can be concluded that honey based herbal gooseberry candies prepared by the sun drying method was found to be the best on the basis of higher rehydration ratio (2.89), NEB (0.05 OD), ascorbic acid (138.78 mg/100 g),total sugar (61.92 %), reducing sugar (35.14 %) and highest sensory score (7.83) as compared to hot air drying.