Optimization of reduced calorie tropical mixed fruits jam

Response surface methodology using mixture design was used to determine the optimum ratio of pineapple, papaya and carambola in the formulation of reduced calorie tropical mixed fruit jam. Ten formulations covering the entire range of a triangular simplex were subjected to sensory evaluation. Contour plot of sensory attributes showed that formulations containing 3.5-37.7% papaya, 0-15% carambola and 61.5-96.5% pineapple produced optimum acceptance. A predicted optimum formulation containing 71% pineapple, 25% papaya and 4% carambola together with two non-optimal formulations were selected and subjected to sensory evaluation to confirm the validity of the model. There was a significant difference (P less than or equal to 0.05) between the predicted optimum and the other two tested formulations. Results obtained matched the predicted value where the optimum formulation received the best sensory scores for most attributes tested. The optimum mixed fruit jam formulation contained 106 kcal/100g which is one-third of the caloric value of a normal jam. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. Ail rights reserved.