DEVELOPMENT OF A LIME BASED PASTE FOR SMALL SCALE PRODUCTION

Abstract

Lime is cultivated in several districts in Sri Lanka, including Moneragala, with an annual production of 13000 MTs. Lime is seasonal and the harvest during peak time is lost due to several reasons including high rate of perishability, unavailability of processing methods and perfected methodology for product development. The study was carried out to develop a lime-based paste using an appropriate technology suitable for small-scale perfections. Preliminary market survey prior to the main study, revealed that most acceptable paste formula should have medium thickness, sourness, salt and with no spice and natural colour.Juice was extracted from cleaned and peeled lime, filtered and treated with S 0 2. After sedimentation, clarified limejuice was mixed with com flour and CMC in different ratios and treated with 400 ppm Sodium benzoate. Then tested for best-preferred formula and effect of packaging material on sensory qualities with time. Visual test for texture revealed that best preferred thickness was obtained by heating at 80 °C for 3 - 5 minutes with 5% com flour to a brix value of 16.5 - 17°. If heated more, paste become low viscous and unacceptable. From the sensory evaluation done, paste with spice was rejected significantly from four selected samples and fresh limejuice and prepared paste did not showed significant difference. Sample with 1.5% salt was selected. To obtain the characteristic flavour of lime, adding back 18% fresh limejuice to the paste, after heat treatment is recommended. The paste can successfully be kept in glass bottles compared with HDPE package. To ensure longer shelf life, paste is treat with 400 ppm Sodium benzoate. Approximate chemical analysis of the selected sample resulted in 79.7% moisture, 1.9% ash, 1.9% protein and 20.2% total solids. Acidity varies with time from 7.0% to 5.8%. Further studies are recommended to find, reasons for changes in acidity and low cost method for de-aeration of lime juice, as air in the juice cause an off flavour development of juice. A study on shelf life of the product treated with preservatives and under refrigerated conditions is also recommended.