COMPARATIVE STUDY ON ESSENTIAL OILS OF TEJPAT (CINNAMOMUM TAMALA), BLACK PEPPER (PIPER NIGRUM) AND CARDAMOM (AMOMUM SUBULATUM ROXB.) AS NATURAL FOOD PRESERVATIVES FOR APPLE JUICE.

Abstract

The present work was carried out to compare between spices (i.e. Tejpat, Black pepper and Cardamom) on the basis of their preservation properties. Preservation of apple juice was carried out using essential oil of above mentioned spices. The essential oils of spices were extracted by hydrodistillation using Clevenger-type apparatus. The chemical composition of fresh apples (Malus domestica) was determined. The value of moisture content, acidity, total sugar, reducing sugar, pH, protein, and vitamin C were found to be 85.79%, 0.77%, 10.49%, 6.66%, 4.1, 0.1% and 11.76mg % respectively. Apple juice was extracted using electronic juicer and filtered through muslin cloth. Five equal batches of apple juice were prepared. Control sample was prepared without any additives i.e. essential oil. Control sample II was prepared adding 100 µL of ethanol. 10 µL of each essential oil was predissolved in 90 µL of ethanol and then homogeneously mixed with other three samples of juice. Those samples were then kept under refrigeration for 28 days and changes were examined every 7 days. During observation, change in pH, % total sugar, % reducing sugar, % titrable acidity, % ascorbic acid content and microbial count were evaluated. The notations S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 stand for sample with no additives, sample with ethanol, black pepper oil, cardamom oil and tejpat oil respectively. In the control sample S1, there was extreme change in every parameters evaluated. At the end of 28 day, % total sugar, % reducing sugar, % ascorbic acid, pH, % titrable acidity, total microbial count and yeast and mold count of Sample S1 were 12.9, 12.05, 3.05, 4.84, 0.373, 6832 and 5623 respectively and that of sample S2 were 12.2, 8.95, 4.48, 4.72, 0.53, 5690 and 4817 respectively. The % total sugar and % reducing sugar of Sample S3, S4 and S5 were 11.83, 11.68, 12.07, 8.03, 8.01 and 8.46 respectively. Ascorbic acid content of sample S3, S4 and S5 were 6.51, 7.37 and 5.38 respectively and that of pH and % titrable acidity were 4.53, 4.46, 4.64, 0.57, 0.62 and 0.61 respectively. The total microbial count and yeast & mold count of sample S3, S4 and S5 were 2033, 1210, 1737, 2240, 1780 and 2917 respectively. In reference to control sample, essential oils showed preservative properties. Among three of the spices used, cardamom oil showed the most preservative effect on overall observation. During 28 days of observation, there were gradual changes in the parameters of each sample