DEVELOPMENT OF SPICY PALMYRA PALM CANDY

Abstract

This study aims at developing the product of spicy palmyra palm candy made from ripe palm fruits grown in Huai Saphan village, Nongrong subdistrict, Kanchanaburi province. The product was developed by mixing ripe palm pulp with pineapple pulp at four different ratios (%) of total weight including 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50. The product quality was evaluated using sensory evaluation test, water activity (aw), color measurement, shelf-life evaluation, and content of phenolic and beta-carotene substances. The results showed that the sensory evaluation using 9-point Hedonic Scale with all ratios possessed low and moderate levels of satisfaction with no statistical difference at (p>0.05), the ratio possessing a high level of satisfaction in all aspects was 80:20 which was a recipe that contained the highest amount of ripe palm pulp. The lowest value of water activity (aw= 0.55) resulted in the prevention of food deterioration and microbial growth. The color measurement pointed out that when the greater amount of pineapple pulp was added in the recipe the more of the color values of redness (*a) and yellowness (*b), but the lesser in the lightness value (*L). The texture analysis showed a negative correlation of pineapple pulp and values of hardness, elasticity, cohesiveness, and gumminess—larger amount of pineapple pulp resulted in decreasing values showing that the ratio 80:20 possessed higher values than the ratios 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50; the shelf-life evaluation revealed that no growth of microorganism, yeast, and fungus was found in the control ratio 80:20 during a 30-day-period; and the content determination of phenolic and beta-carotene substances reported that the product contained 0.038±0.00 mgGAE/g of phenolic content, and 0.775±0.26 mg/100g of beta-carotene content the small amounts indicated that the product lacked of antioxidant efficiency.