Assessment of seed spice squashes from dill, fennel and coriander

Spice seeds are important source of fibre, vitamins, minerals and phenolics. These contain pleasant aroma and used mostly in culinary purposes. Squashes were developed from dill, fennel and coriander using aonla juice as base material. The squashes were prepared using water extracts of 5 per cent coarsely ground seed spice powders mixed in aonla juice. The prepared squashes were stored at low temperature (10±2°C) for one year. Among the samples, coriander squash contained highest amount of ascorbic acid (73.3 mg/100 ml) and phenolics (735 mg/100 ml) at zero day. During storage, both ascorbic acid and phenolics decreased in all the samples. The reducing sugar content initially was 13.2–13.5 per cent, which increased to 24.1–24.4 per cent after one year of storage. All the squashes were organoleptically acceptable, scoring between 7.5 and 8.2 on hedonic scale during sensory evaluation. The squashes retained high acceptability obtaining 7.2–8.3 scores till the end of storage. No microbial contamination was observed in any of the samples at any stage of storage. It was inferred from the study that good quality squashes could be prepared from dill, fennel or coriander using aonla juice as base material.