Development of wild pomegranate aril-in-syrup and its quality evaluation during storage

Studies undertaken to prepare arils-in-syrup product from wild pomegranate and its quality evaluation during storage are reported here. Out of ten combinations of arils, syrup and TSS of syrup the product with 40 per cent arils and 60 per cent syrup of 75°B was adjudged to be the best on the basis of its sensory and some physico-chemical characteristics like colour, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid. It could safely be stored for a period of six months under both the ambient and refrigerated storage conditions without much changes in various quality characteristics. However, Sugars increased from 36.77 to 41.52%, ascorbic acid decreased from 8.34 to 4.99mg/100g, anthocyanins decreased from 8.09 to 3.15 mg/100g, phenols decreased from 32.91 to 25.75% during storage. Changes in the quality characteristics of the product were slower in refrigerated storage conditions than ambient. Both the packaging materials viz., PET and glass jars were found suitable, with comparatively less changes occurring in glass jar under refrigerated conditions.