Rapid Extraction of Pawpaw Juice with the Application of Locally Produced Pectic Enzymes from Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ATCC 51712

Abstract

Pawpaw (Carica papaya) fruit is highly perishable; hence, conversion into a value-added product such as juice concentrate will be useful. Pawpaw fruit is, however, high in pectin; therefore, its juice extraction is difficult without an extraction aid such as the addition of pectic enzymes. Our laboratory has developed a simple enzymatic method that enables the extraction of pawpaw juice with considerable ease. Pectic enzymes were obtained from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ATCC 52712) cultured in pawpaw juice for 6 days at room temperature (25–28°C) and centrifuged to obtain the enzyme in the supernatant. Addition of this enzyme (32 mg total protein) to 200 g pawpaw mash and incubation for 30 min resulted in significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the viscosity of the mash with corresponding increases in the flow rate of free-run juice (85%). Simultaneously, large increases in the volume of free-run juice (180%) over the controls were obtained. Since the overall increase in total juice volume was only 35% as compared with 180% for volume of free–run juice and 80% increase in flow rate for free–run juice, it was concluded that the major effect of the enzyme treatment on pawpaw juice extraction is on the decrease in processing time as a result of the degradation of the pectin in the fruit flesh.