OPTIMIZING THE ACCEPTABILITY OF JAM FROM BACCAUREA ANGULATA FRUIT PEEL

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to utilize the fruit peel of Baccaurea angulata to produce a fruit jam. The B. angulata fruit was an underutilized fruit known as “Belimbing Hutan” or wild starfruit in Sabah and Sarawak. The peel of B. angulata fruit makes up more than 60% of the fruit and is a significant source of food waste having potential to be explored. Using conventional jam making technology, the peel of B. angulata was used as the principal ingredient to produce a jam besides sugar and pectin. To find the optimal formulation, the D-Optimal of Mixture Design of Design Expert Version 10 software was employed. The software generated sixteen formulations and from those sixteen formulations, sensory evaluation was conducted to determine the optimal formulation. The optimal acceptability of the B. angulata fruit peel jam was determined by using seven sensory responses namely sweetness, sourness, spreadability, colour, texture, aroma and overall acceptance. Of the sixteen formulations, formulation number 9 (49.5% puree, 49.5% sugar and 1.0% pectin) was selected by the sensory panellists with the highest mean score of overall acceptability (7.2). The contour plots generated using the software explained the various combinations of ingredients that affected the seven sensory responses of the fruit jam.