Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Date Pulp-fortified Custard Apple Shake

Aims: To evaluate the physico-chemical characteristics of custard apple and date palm fruits and identify a suitable combination for preparing a date pulp-fortified custard apple shake. Study Design: The experiment was conducted using a completely randomised design (CRD) comprising five treatments and three replications. Custard apple pulp was maintained at 12% in all treatments, while date pulp was added at different concentrations (0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10%) to prepare date pulp-fortified custard apple shake. Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Fruit Processing Laboratory, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV), Raipur, Chhattisgarh, during 2021–2022. Methodology: The physical and chemical characteristics of custard apple and date palm fruits were evaluated before preparing the fortified shake. Physical properties included fruit weight, seed weight, number of seeds, pulp weight, horizontal and vertical lengths of the fruits and seeds. Chemical properties included total soluble solids (°Brix), pH, titratable acidity (%), ascorbic acid (mg/100 g), total sugars (%), reducing sugars (%) and non-reducing sugars (%). Results: The physical and chemical characteristics of custard apple and date palm fruits showed considerable differences. custard apple fruit had a mean weight of 142 g, seed weight of 5.04 g, 24 seeds per fruit and a pulp weight of 53 g, whereas date palm fruit had a mean weight of 6.28 g, 1.6 g seed weight, one seed per fruit and a pulp weight of 4.15 g. The horizontal and vertical fruit lengths were 4 and 8 cm in custard apple and 0.3 and 1.2 cm in date palm, respectively. The horizontal and vertical seed lengths were 0.4 and 0.7 cm in custard apple and 0.3 and 0.8 cm in date palm, respectively. In the chemical analysis, custard apple recorded 24°Brix TSS, pH 5.23, 0.31% titratable acidity, 15.77 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 16.21% total sugars, 12.95% reducing sugars and 3.26% non-reducing sugars. By comparison, date palm recorded 28°Brix TSS, pH 6.3, 0.24% titratable acidity, 4.56 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 19.44% total sugars, 3.97% reducing sugars and 5.67% non-reducing sugars. Conclusion: The study revealed that date pulp, owing to its higher TSS and sugar content, can be used to develop a value-added custard apple shake with improved nutritional and quality characteristics.