Indian Journal of Natural Sciences www.tnsroindia.org. ©IJONS Vol.7 / Issue 39 / December 2016 International Bimonthly ISSN: 0976 – 0997 RESEARCH ARTICLE Physical and Nutritional Evaluation of Freeze Dried Jamun Pulp Powder Stored at Different Package and Storage Conditions S.Reginold Jebitta1*, M.Ramanathan2 and P.Rajkumar2 1Department of Food Processing and Engineering, Karunya University, Coimbatore,TamilNadu,India. 2Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, TamilNadu,India. Received: 21 Aug 2016 Revised: 9 Sep 2016 Accepted: 20 Oct 2016 Address for correspondence S.Reginold Jebitta Department of Food Processing and Engineering, Karunya University,Coimbatore, TamilNadu,India. Email:[email protected] This is an Open Access Journal / article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. All rights reserved. ABSTRACT Jamun Syzygium cumini is a seasonable fruit which is widely distributed in forest tree in India and other tropical region. It is consumed as fresh for its nutritive value. The fruit is rich in anthocyanin, tannins, Gallic acid and many Phytonutrients. High fluctuation in market price on season times is mainly due to wastage. Drying is done to enhance the storage stability, reduce transport weight and retains its nutritive values. Freeze drying was conducted at -40°C the dried powder was packed at two different packaging material Metalized Polyester Pouches (MPE) and Low Density polyethylene Pouches (LDPE). Under three various storage conditions were S1 (Ambient temperature), S2 (ambient temperature in Dark), S3 (low temperature 4°C). On comparing the results of storage study it was found that Moisture content 3.15 %, Bulk density 0.60, solubility 69.85 and flow ability 31.47% was found at the end of six month in S3 condition packed in MPE. The nutritional properties like ascorbic acid 12.29 mg/g, total phenols 14.38 mg/g; total Anthocyanin 102.10 mg/g and Flavonoids 6.68 mg/g have significant effect with respect to packaging material and storage conditions. From the study it was concluded that MPE is suitable packaging material in Low temperature for Jamun pulp powder stored for six month. Keywords : Phytonutrient, Drying, Metalized polyethylene, Anthocyanin. 11709 Indian Journal of Natural Sciences www.tnsroindia.org. ©IJONS Vol.7 / Issue 39 / December 2016 International Bimonthly ISSN: 0976 – 0997 Reginold Jebitta et al. INTRODUCTION Syzygium cumini is, commonly known as black plum or “Jamun” is an important medicinal plant in various traditional systems of medicine. Other common names are Jambul, Black Plum, Java Plum, Indian Blackberry, Jamun etc. Today these trees are found growing throughout the Asian subcontinent, Eastern Africa and South America [1]. Syzygium cumini is an ever green tropical tree, which can grow above 30 m height. The fruit is astringent and taste varies from light acidic to sweet. Tree fruits once in a year and the berries are sweetish sour to taste. The ripe fruits are used for health drinks, making preserves, squashes, jellies and wine. Different parts of the jambolan were also reported for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuropsycho-pharmacological, anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, anti- HIV, antileishmanial and antifugal, nitric oxide scavenging, free radical scavenging, anti-diarrheal, antifertility, anorexigenic, gastroprotective and anti-ulcerogenic and redioprotective activities. A little quantity of fruit syrup is very useful for curing diarrhoea [2]. A mixture of jamun juice and mango juice in equal quantity is very useful for quenching thirst for diabetic patient. Jamun is used for preparation of wine particularly in Goa. The vinegar prepared from juice extracted from slightly ripe fruits is stomachic, carminative and diuretic, apart from having cooling and digestive properties. Almost every part of the tree is used for one purpose or other. A tree made of tender leaves and alcoholic extracts of leaves and fruit is used in South America for curing the stomach disorder. Almost all parts of the tree are used for various purposes. Ripe fruits are very juicy, almost odorless, with a pleasant, slightly bitter, astringent taste. The fruit pulp is used to make jams, jellies, juice, vinegar and puddings. Fruits are also used to make wine in vast quantities in the Philippines. These fruits are not yet totally exploited and organised cultivation of these fruits and awareness about the importance are immediate needs [3]. These crops are easier to grow and hardy in nature, producing even under adverse conditions. Moreover, these fruits are playing a vital role in nutrition and livelihood use of rural and tribal masses for employment and income generation. Apart from nutritive value, these fruits are particularly more important for medicinal properties and famous for the retentive value in Ayurvedic medicine. Most people are familiar with the medicinal properties of locally available fruits.The research findings of the drying of some exotic fruits and comments on the type of dryers and drying methods for the drying of exotic fruits. In dried cranberries 20 volatile compounds were detected [4]. Freeze-drying is a process recommended for drying of heat-sensitive products. Some advantages of this technique are that it allows the shrinkage and the degrading reactions in the material, which are common in conventional drying operations, to be minimized. The knowledge of drying kinetics is essential for modeling and optimization of a freeze-drying process. Freeze-dried products are believed to have the same characteristics as those of fresh ones. As such, preservation and retention of the attributes such as shape, appearance, taste, nutrients, porosity, color, flavor, texture and biological activity of the fresh samples makes this technique one of the most fascinating and applicable process for drying food materials. Nevertheless, longer drying time is required due to the freeze-dryer’s lower vapor pressure driving force as compared with that of conventional drying methods Marques et al. [5]. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sample preparation Jambola mature fruits were directly obtained from producers in the region of Pollachi. The fruits were sorted by its maturity and the fully ripped fruits were washed in normal tap water. The free water in the fruit was removed using hair dryer and wiped out with tissue papers. Pre weighed 100 g of the Jamun fruit was packed in each PP zip lock bag and kept in deep freezer at -30°C for further use. The stored Jamun fruits were taken from the deep freezer and kept in room temperature to reach its normal state. Jamun pulp was extracted manually by separating the pulp from the seed. The extracted pulp was dried in Freeze dryer at -40°C. After drying these samples were store in Metalized 11710 Indian Journal of Natural Sciences www.tnsroindia.org. ©IJONS Vol.7 / Issue 39 / December 2016 International Bimonthly ISSN: 0976 – 0997 Reginold Jebitta et al. polyethylene package and in LDPE. These packages were stored in three different storage conditions. The dried pulp powder is shown in Fig.1. Storage conditions Freeze dried samples were stored immediately after processing in sterile LDPE and MPE packages The storing conditions were S1 (Ambient temperature), S2 (Ambient temperature in Dark), S3 (Low temperature 4°C). Samples were tested for 6 months, on 30 days of interval the samples were tested for analysis. Physical Characteristics Moisture content Moisture content was determined using an automatic electronic moisture analyser (A & D make, model MX-50) which registers loss of mass as moisture percent. The sample is heated by a halogen lamp. The drying temperature for was set at 80 °C and moisture percent accuracy at 0.01 percent. About 2.0 g of jamun pulp powder was taken to determine moisture content. Bulk density Bulk density was determined by adding 2.0 g of powder to a 5.0 ml graduated cylinder and holding the cylinder tape it for continues 50 times. The bulk density was calculated by dividing mass of the powders by the volume occupied in the cylinder. This method is done given by Singhanat Phoungchandang and Anong Sertwasana [6]. Solubility Solubility test was done by Germano et al. [7]. A small sample of dry powders of 1.0 g was added to 10 ml of water at 30 °C in a 50 ml beaker. The mixture was stirred using a magnetic stirrer at 7 rpm. Solubility was measured as the time taken for the powders to completely soluble in water. ISM was determined by dissolving 2.0 g powder in 20 ml water and the solution was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 5 min. An aliquot of 10 ml was used for moisture content determination using automatic electronic moisture analyser set at 105 ºC. Flowability Flowability was analyzed by the static angle of repose method Teunou and Fitzpatrick [8]. The height of the “Funnel” through which the powder passes was fixed relative to the base. The base is fit with a graph to find out the diameter of the cone. The cone pile has to touch the tip of the funnel end. The height remains constant and the diameter varies according to the property of the powder. Nutritional Characteristics Ascorbic Acid A Sample of 2 g was extracted with metaphosphoric acid (3%) and the total AA was determined by titrating a known weight of sample against 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol dye. Result was expressed in mg/100 g of fresh fruit [9]. Total phenol determination Total phenolic content of the extracts was determined by Folin Ciocalteu reagent method with some modifications. Powder extract (1 ml) was mixed with Folin Ciocalteu reagent (0.1 ml, 1 N), and allowed to stand for 15 min. Then 5 ml of saturated Na2CO3 was added. The mixtures were allowed to stand for 30 min at room temperature and the total phenols were determined spectrophotometrically at 760 nm.