Effect of blending on sensory quality, functional properties and storage stability of bitter gourd -aonla blended squash

Abstract

Studies were conducted to observe the effect of blending bitter gourd juice with aonla juice in different proportions i.e. 10 to 50% on sensory quality, functional properties and storage stability of the blended squash. The beverages were prepared using varied levels of blended juice (25, 30 and 35%) and TSS (40 and 45°B). With the increase in proportion of aonla juice up to 30%, the overall sensory acceptability score increased gradually, but decreased thereafter. Among different blended ratios, the squash prepared by treatment T11 (70% bitter gourd juice + 30% aonla juice) recorded highest sensory scores for colour, flavour and overall acceptability. This combination has also been found to contain good amount of ascorbic acid (39.75 mg/100g) and total phenolics (33.11mg/100g) compared to control sample (100% bitter gourd squash). The developed product was found to have strong antimicrobial activity against E. coli. There were non-significant changes in the physico-chemical and nutritional quality attributes of the product and it remained well within the acceptable limits of sensory quality (>7.00 score) during storage for a period of 6 months at room temperature.