Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Food and dairy sciences and technology, Environmental agricultural sciences, Arish University
2
Department of Food and Dairy Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Arish Univ. Egypt
3
Department of Horticultural Crops Research, Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
4
Department of Food and Dairy Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Arish Univ.Egypt
Abstract
Consumer demand for natural foods and enhanced nutritional value is driving innovation in jam formulation through the use of alternative sweeteners and functional ingredients. This study developed functional strawberry jams by replacing sucrose with honey, white grape juice concentrate, and date syrup, either alone or with 1.5% aqueous extracts of ginger and sweet basil. We investigated the effect of these substitutions and additions on physicochemical properties, bioactive compounds, microbial stability, and sensory evaluation during a 6-month storage period at ambient temperature (25 ± 5 ºC). Results revealed that sugar substitution with grape juice concentrate in strawberry jams increased titratable acidity from 0.60% to 1.75%. The lowest total sugar content (50.15 %) was observed in strawberry jam prepared with sugar replaced by white grape juice concentrate, with or without the addition of ginger and sweet basil aqueous extracts. Date syrup-substituted strawberry jam with the addition of sweet basil showed the highest antioxidant content (DPPH scavenging, 80.65%), total phenols (3.77 mg GAE/g), and total flavonoids (2.22 mg QE/g). Sensory evaluation indicated that strawberry jams without sugar substitution, with the addition of sweet basil, recorded the highest scores across all parameters, followed by the control sample and ginger-added strawberry jams compared to the other treatments. Microbiological analysis revealed no detectable growth of bacteria, yeasts, or molds in any of the jam samples during storage, indicating good shelf stability. In conclusion, the use of natural sugar substitutes and plant extracts effectively enhances the quality of jam. The date syrup and sweet basil formula (DB) is identified as the optimal choice for nutritional enrichment due to its superior antioxidant profile. However, the sucrose and sweet basil formula (SB) achieved the highest overall consumer preference.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)
View on SCiNiTO