Heba Meary (1)*, Akram al-Ahmad(1), and Mohammed al-Azm(1)
(1). Dept. of Food Engineering Technologies, Faculty of Technical Engineering, University of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Heba Meary. E-Mai: hibameary@gmail.com, phone: 0930045657l).
Received:9/10/2023 Accepted:21/04/2024
Abstract
In this research, two varieties of fresh pomegranate fruits (Punica granatum) were used, namely sweet French and sour baladi collected from the local markets in Aleppo city. Additionally, three samples of commercial pomegranate molasses were taken from Aleppo markets. The juice of the two selected varieties was concentrated using two methods, the traditional method (boiling in open vessels), and the vacuum at a temperature of 55 °C and pressure (-500 mm bar). Subsequently, some physicochemical and sensory properties of the studied samples were studied. The vacuum method showed superiority over the traditional (boiling open vessels) in both the Sweet French and Sour local varieties. The sugar content in the vacuum method was higher compared to the traditional method measuring (1.96±63.27 and 1.73±60) % respectively for the French variety, similarly, the phenolic content was higher in the vacuum method compared to the traditional method with values (26.73±1997.7 and 9.17±1518) mg Gallic acid / 100 g respectively for the French variety. On the other hand, the acidity level in the Sour local variety was higher in the vacuum method compared to the traditional, as it reached (0.41±10.07 and 0.14±9.38)%, respectively, and based on the above, it is the evident that pomegranate molasses produced using the vacuum method preserves its physicochemical and sensory properties better than those produced using the traditional method (boiling in open vessels). Therfoe, it is recommended to use the vacuum method for pomegranate juice concentration. When comparing the results of the physicochemical and sensory tests conducted on both laboratory and commercial samples showed superiority in both methods and varieties over the market samples in all conducted tests. It was also found that one of the commercial samples contained synthetic coloring.
Keywords: Laboratory pomegranate molasses, vacuum, boiling, commercial pomegranate molasses, market samples.
Full paper in Arabic: PDF