Formula optimization of functional beverage made from Carica seeds

Abstract

Cheese Carica fruit (Carica pubescens, Lenne) is a geographical indication product of Wonosobo District. Usually, Carica fruit is processed into cocktails before consumption. Carica seeds are one of the wastes produced from the processing of cocktails. Research on processing Carica seeds has never been done. Carica seeds can be processed into ready-to-drink beverages through the fermentation process of seeds with commercial inoculums containing microorganisms and mixing with other ingredients such as jackfruit (in the form of dried jackfruit powder). This study was aimed to 1) determine the appropriate fermentation method to produce Carica seeds with high content of phenol and antioxidants; 2) optimizing the fermentation time of Carica seeds and the proportion between Carica seeds and jackfruit to produce a beverage that has a sensory responses, i.e. overall acceptability (maximum), fruity flavor (maximum), bitter taste (minimum) and after taste (minimum); 3) examine the sensory characteristics of product with optimum formula by quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) used 15 cm unstructured scale; 4) examine the physicochemical properties of product with optimum formula. The study of determination of Carica seed fermentation methods and the physicochemical properties of the product was carried out 2 times and the data were analyzed by Ms. Excel 2010. Formula optimization was done by surface response methodology with a central composite design using Design Expert V.7 software (for trial). The sensory responses were tested by 10 trained panelists with rating method using 9 intensity scales. The results showed that: 1) Solid-state fermentation method with a proportion of 0.2% commercial inoculum resulted in Carica seed powder which had the highest phenol and antioxidant content compared to other methods (0.27 and 86.17%, respectively); 2) Formula with 0.9 of desirability value consisting of 75 hours of fermentation time, 72% of Carica seeds powder and 28% of jackfruit powder produce beverage with actual rating score (range = 1–9) of overall acceptability, fruity flavor, bitter taste, and after taste i.e 8.23, 7.76, 4.41, 3.79, respectively. Compared to control (a beverage made from 100% Carica seeds without fermentation), the optimum product has a stronger fruity flavor and sweet taste and a weaker in a bitter taste. Products with optimum formula preferred by 25 semi-trained panelists and have a higher content of antioxidant, phenol, vitamin C, sugar, potassium than control, i.e 89.21% db, 0.35% db, 135.25 mg/100 g db, 10.94% db, 90.65 ppm, and 51.66 ppm, respectively. (slightly favourable).