Studies on preparation of mixed fruit toffee from strawberry and apple ber

Present investigation was carried out to prepare mixed fruit toffee from strawberry and apple ber. The changes in chemical composition, organoleptic properties and microbial characters of mixed fruit toffee during storage were also studied. The recovery of strawberry pulp was 98.50 per cent, while it was 81.75 per cent in case of apple ber. The fresh apple ber pulp contained 14⁰ Brix TSS, 0.41% acidity, 5.10% reducing sugar, 15.6% total sugars, 110 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 23 mg/100 g calcium; whereas these values for fresh strawberry pulp were 7.9⁰ Brix, 1.78%, 4.90%, 7%, 56.9 mg/100 g and 0.62 mg/100 g respectively. Strawberry and apple ber pulp (90: 10 w/w) toffee was found better with respect to organoleptic properties and nutritional quality. The fresh mixed fruit toffees contained 14.83% moisture, 82.90⁰ Brix TSS, 0.24% titrable acidity, 72.12% total sugars, 34.08% reducing sugar, 72.18 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 0.38 mg/100g manganese and 20.11 mg/100g calcium. The storage studies indicated gradual decrease in acidity and manganese content with the advancement of storage period, while TSS, acidity, total sugars, reducing sugars, ascorbic acid contents increased slightly with storage period. The chemical changes were relatively higher at ambient temperature than at refrigerated temperature. The sensory quality of toffees decreased during storage at ambient condition, rather than at refrigerated condition.