Deptt. of Food and Nutrition, College of Home Science, RAU, Bikaner (Raj.)
Amla and ber fruits are important arid resources of Rajasthan (India) which are harvested and available in abundance during December to February. These arid fruits bear nutritional as well as medicinal significance in oldest scripture too. Considering the perishable nature and importance of these fruits, their post harvest management with special reference to value addition is the need of present time. Amla (cv.NA-6) and ber (cv.Seb) were used for developing three sugar based value added products i.e. jam, preserve and squash. The products were assessed for their quality on the basis of sensory attributes, vitamin C retention and microbial load. The over all acceptability scores of the products ranged from 7.5 to 8.5 on nine point hedonic rating scale. Vitamin C retention was recorded as 149 to 210.87 mg/100g and 27.3 to 50.82 mg/100g in the amla and ber products respectively. The cost of the products was calculated to be in the range of Rs. 18 to 66 per Kg. High vitamin C content and abundant availability on low cost proved great potential of these arid fruits in the field of processing and value addition.
