Author(s): Piu Das, Rajni Rajan, Ishita Saha, Deepanwita Sadhukhan, Koutik Roy and Rahul R. Rodge

Abstract: The exotic and visually appealing dragon fruit is native to India and is rich in nutrients and phytochemicals. It contains soluble fibre in water, vitamin C, antioxidants that guard against heart disease, and bacteria and fungi that support the body's overall health. Its flavour, however, is poor and extremely ephemeral. In the current research, we evaluated the physiochemical properties of dragon fruit jam which is prepared with leaves extract as natural preservatives and alternate sweetener sources under ambient condition. Three distinct leaf extracts (tulsi, lemongrass, and mint) and alternative sources of sweetness (honey, stevia, and coconut sugar) were combined to create ten distinct treatments. Ten treatments comprise the control, which is composed of lemon juice and sugar. The taste revealed that chewiness decreased while gumminess, elasticity, and adhesiveness increased when leave extract and other sugar sources were combined. The data was analysed in different storage intervals (14, 21 and 28 days). According to the storage period we evaluated the final results where the combination of mint leave extract and stevia as alternate sugar source gave the best result having 65-660B total soluble solids, 0.25-0.26% titratable acidity, 9.0-9.4 mg/100g ascorbic acid, 4-4.2 pH, 8.2-9.2% total sugar, 4.5-3.5% reducing sugar and 4.2-4.1% non-reducing sugar.

DOI: 10.33545/26174693.2024.v8.i6c.1299