DEVELOPMENT AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF APRICOT-DATE BARS

Considering the nutritional qualities of fruits, apricot-date bars were developed at the Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan during the year 2009-10. For this purpose date paste, dried apricot paste, skim milk powder, roasted gram flour, peanuts and sodium chloride were used in different four propotions. The results indicated that water activity, colour and texture of bars were affected significantly with the addition of dried apricots. Moisture was also significantly affected which ranged from 17.14 to 19.21 percent and 71.49 to 72.81 percent whereas crude fat, crude protein, crude fibre, nitrogen free extract and ash were not significantly affected with the addition of apricot paste. The quantities of sodium, calcium, iron, manganese and zinc remained unchanged, whereas potassium increased significantly in these treatments. In-vitro protein and starch digestibilities ranged from 85.90 to 86.88 percent and 0.238 to 0.244 mg/g, respectively. There was no change observed in the quantities of free fatty acids. The total phenolic contents ranged from 225.20 to 263.84mg/100g. Microbiological analysis revealed that these bars were in the safe limits in bacterial and mold loads and might be stored for longer time. The studies further revealed that potential exists to produce economical fruit bars with commercial value.