Analysis of Physicochemical Stability of Apricot Pulp Stored With Chemical Preservatives

Apricot pulp is a perishable product and the pulp has a short shelf life (3-5 days) at ambient temperature, and hardly 2-4 weeks at cold storage. Hence, the preservation of the pulp for quality retention and to extend the storage shelf life is important consideration. In this work Storage stability of Apricot pulp (Ap) was determined at room temperature (30-42oC in the dark), with the addition of Sodium benzoate (SB) and Potassium Meta bi- sulphite (PMS) at various concentrations during storage. The Apricot variety (Halman) was selected for the present study. Apricot was uniformly ripened. Pulp was extracted and preserved by chemical preservatives such as Sodium Benzoate (SB), and Potassium Meta-Bisulphate (PMS) at different concentrations. The physic chemical parameters (pH, TSS, Acidity, Reducing sugar and Ash) were analyzed periodically for a period of 60 days. The experiments were carried out with seven treatments. Among the chemical preservatives evaluated, the pulp samples treated with sodium benzoate and potassium meta bisulphate shows stability for physicochemical analysis in comparison to controlled treatments where pH, TSS, Reducing Sugar and Ash content were significantly increased while acidity decreased during storage period of 60 days. The pulp samples treated with these preservatives delayed the increase in reducing sugars and thus prevented browning of pulp during storage. This study confirmed that both Sodium benzoate and potassium metabisulphite (at 500 ppm concentration) were identified as suitable preservatives to retain the quality and extend the storage shelf life of apricot pulp up to 60 days.