Development and evaluation of antioxidant rich low calorie functional bitter gourd (Memordica charantia L) spiced squash

Efforts were made to develop antioxidant rich bitter gourd based functional spiced squash through fortification with ascorbic acid and using stevioside sweetness at different proportions (25, 50, 75 and 100%). Out of different combinations tried a combination of 27.5 per cent juice, 45.00^oB TSS, SE₂ spice recipe (10.0 g common salt, 15.0 g black salt, 8.0 g cumin, 3.0 g cardamom, 8.0 g black pepper and 40.0 ml ginger extract) with ascorbic acid (0.5%) was found the best. A good amount of ascorbic acid (390.36 to 425.85 mg/100 g) was recorded in bitter gourd based functional spiced squash. Sensory analysis indicated highest acceptability for stevia sweetened (75% stevioside sweetness) squash followed by those sweetened with 50 per cent stevioside sweetness. The developed product was found to have strong antimicrobial activity (28 mm inhibition zone) against Escherichia coli as well as high antioxidant potential (83.33%). The calculated energy value of the developed product was recorded to be 44.5 Kcal/100 g which was significantly low compared to the control sample (153.5 Kcal/100 g).