ISSN:
1573-9104
Keywords:
Cactus pear
;
Opuntia ficus indica
;
Prickly pear
;
Sweetener
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Abstract The use of cactus pear ( Opuntia ficus indica L.) to obtain a new natural liquid sweetener was studied. The juice of the fruit (16.5 ° Brix) was clarified with enzymes, treated with active carbon to take out the color and vacuum concentrated to obtain a 60 °Brix syrup or liquid sweetener. Physical and chemical characteristics determined included: aw; reducing sugars (as inverted sugar); glucose (%); ash content (%); sugar composition by TLC; OD (420 nm) and Y, x, y chromaticity coordinates; viscosity (cps) and density (g ml-1). Sensory analyses to determine the relative sweetness were also conducted. Cactus pear syrup contained 52.38% reducing sugar. The syrup had a pH of 4.31, a viscosity of 27.05 cps, an Aw of 0.83, a density of 1.2900 g ml-1, an acidity (as citric acid) of 0.74% and an ash content of 1.4%. Compared with traditional sweeteners such as fructose and glucose syrup, the acidity was greater than that of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) of 0.035%, and the ash values were considered a little high compared to glucose syrup which is 1.0%; these disparities can be attributed to the different processing conditions employed. Sensory evaluation revealed the same relative sweetness for cactus pear syrup and glucose, but lower than fructose; cactus pear syrup had a relative sweetness value of 67 with respect to sucrose (100).
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1008033704523
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