Cactus pear fruit: A new source for a natural sweetener

Authors: Sáenz C.; Estévez A.M.; Sepúlveda E.; Mecklenburg P.

Source: Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, Volume 52, Number 2, 1998 , pp. 141-149(9)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The use of cactus pear ( Opuntia ficus indica L.) to obtain a new natural liquid sweetener was studied. The juice of the fruit (16.5 °Brix) was clarified with enzymes, treated with active carbon to take out the color and vacuum concentrated to obtain a 60 °Brix syrup or liquid sweetener. Physical and chemical characteristics determined included: aw; reducing sugars (as inverted sugar); glucose (%); ash content (%); sugar composition by TLC; OD (420 nm) and Y, x, y chromaticity coordinates; viscosity (cps) and density (g ml-1). Sensory analyses to determine the relative sweetness were also conducted. Cactus pear syrup contained 52.38% reducing sugar. The syrup had a pH of 4.31, a viscosity of 27.05 cps, an Aw of 0.83, a density of 1.2900 g ml-1, an acidity (as citric acid) of 0.74% and an ash content of 1.4%. Compared with traditional sweeteners such as fructose and glucose syrup, the acidity was greater than that of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) of 0.035%, and the ash values were considered a little high compared to glucose syrup which is 1.0%; these disparities can be attributed to the different processing conditions employed. Sensory evaluation revealed the same relative sweetness for cactus pear syrup and glucose, but lower than fructose; cactus pear syrup had a relative sweetness value of 67 with respect to sucrose (100).

Keywords: Cactus pear; Opuntia ficus indica; Prickly pear; Sweetener

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 1004, Santiago, Chile

Publication date: 1998-01-01