Development of functional ice cream by incorporating bael fruit (aegele marmelos) pulp and evaluation of its quality parameters

Abstract

This study focuses on the production of bael fruit-formulated ice cream to utilize the benefits of bael fruit which is rich in medicinal and nutritional properties. Ice cream was developed under four treatments; T1 (control), T2, T3, and T4 with varying percentages of bael fruit pulp 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75%). A comprehensive analysis was conducted which included proximate analysis (protein, fat, ash, and moisture), sensory evaluation, and physicochemical property analysis (pH, hardness, cohesiveness, springiness and melting rate) of ice cream. Physicochemical properties were analyzed over 42 days to detectthe storage duration. The results revealed that the T2 had the best sensory appeal which was even higher than the control. Protein, fat, and moisture contents were higher in T1 than the other treatments while ash content increased with the rate of bael fruit incorporation. The protein, fat, ash, and moisture contents (%) of T2 were recorded as 1.99±0.02, 1.69±0.01, 1.19±0.03, and 80.27±0.30 respectively. The pH, hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, and melting rate values of freshly produced ice cream with T2 were 5.53±0.03, 7.86±10.21, 0.25±0.01, 0.63±0.06, and 1.03±0.03 (mL/min) respectively. This study reveals that ice cream products with acceptable sensory and physicochemical attributes can be produced by incorporating the pulp of bael fruit, which is currently underutilized in the Sri Lankan context