ABSTRACT

The study assessed the nutrient, antinutrient and sensory properties of products (juices and flours) made from Jackfruit (Artocarpus hetrophyllus), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) pulps and seeds respectively and lemon (limon). It was an experimental study where the proximate, vitamins, minerals, antinutrients and sensory properties of the products were examined. The ready to eat jackfruits were harvested between July and August, 2019, the other fruits and ingredients were bought from Ubani Market in Umuahia. The juices were extracted with juice extractor while the seeds were milled into flours with hammer mill. The moisture content of the fruit juice and flour samples ranged from 78.14-90.06% and 7.53-8.66% respectively. The fat content values of the juice and flour samples ranged from 0.19 %- 1.33% and 2.38-19.46 respectively. The iron values for juice and flours ranged from 2.72-22.02mg/100g and 2.74- 52.74mg/100g respectively. The juice blends had good value of potassium 14.68- 167.06mg/1 00g. The sodium value of both juices and flours were low, 0.13-0.43 and 0.05-0.08 respectively. All the samples contained considerable amounts of Ca, Mg, K,Fe, Zn, as well as vitamins A and C. The juices and flours were low in all antinutritional factors studied. The processing (parboil and oven dry) reduced the level of antinutrients to a permissible limits. The sensory properties of all the products ( cakes, breads and stiff dough-the one eaten with soup) were acceptable by the panelists. The investigation also showed that jackfruit and watermelon seed flours contained considerable amount of nutrients and this will encourage the cultivation of these fruits especially jackfruit which is less utilized. Therefore, they can be used in food enrichment to compensate the shortage of certain nutrients. It was concluded that. formulations of the study blends of juices and flours were nutritionally rich. Therefore, consumption of these products will protect human body from several diseases.