Development of Fruit and Nut Ice cream using Tropical almond (Kottamba) as a substitute for Cashew nut

Abstract

Terminalia catappa (kottamba) is a tropical tree. This is probably indigenous to Andamans and the neighboring islands. It is common along the coast in Sri Lanka and it is also cultivated in home gardens to yield edible fruits and shade. The ripen nuts are drupes coloured yellowish or reddish, ellipsoidal, distinctly compressed, with a porous, fibrous to fleshy pericarp and a hard endocarp, enclosing the edible seed. Ice cream is a frozen and flavoured food product containing milk as the main ingredient. Other ingredients that are included stabilizer, colour, flavour, sugars, fruits, nuts, candies, syrups and water. The purpose of this study was to develop a fruit and nut ice cream using tropical almond (Kottamba) as a substitute for cashew nut for Ceylon Cold Stores (CCS) Ltd. Due to the high production cost of cashew nut, tropical almond could be incorporated as a substitute to reduce the cost of production of fruit and nut ice cream. Tropical almond kernels are enclosed hard endocarp, therefore it is difficult to separate the kernels from the nut and the nut contains brown colour seed coating. So it is difficult to incorporate the directly nuts into the ice cream without removing the fibrous seed coating. Several experiments were conducted to remove the outer fibrous coating of the nut in order to impart more consumer attraction. Seeds were blanched in hot water and the seed coating was removed by rubbing. Then seeds were cut into small pieces ( 1 - 1 V2 cm) thickness and dried at 105 °C for lhr until the desired texture was obtained. A physicochemical assessment of nuts was also performed. According to the results of the proximate analysis, the moisture percentage was 3.6 - 5.2%, the ash percentage was 3.73%,the protein percentage was 9.63% and total fat percentage was 34.06%. Colour, texture,flavour, taste and microbiological parameters (TCC, Yeast and moulds count and Coliform count) were evaluated in fresh nuts, nuts stored at room temperature (28 ± 3 °C) for 4 days and nuts stored under refrigerator conditions (4 ± 2 °C) and this experiment was repeated for processed (roasted) nuts, once in a two weeks for 11/2 months. The micro biological examination was conducted according to SLSI standards and also the 3M Petri film technology was used for enumerations. Optimum nut content was formulated according to internal CCS standards of fruit and nut ice cream and four types of fruit and nut ice creams were made using the different formulations. The best formulated mixture was chosen by carrying out a consumer sensory evaluation and the data were statistically analyzed. After reviewing the results of the sensory analysis, a final formula for the ice cream was re-formulated. The best fruit and nut combination was tropical almond 30.0g: plums 30.0g: ash pumpkin 40.0g.Colour, texture, flavour, taste and microbiological parameters were evaluated in the final product and there was no organoleptic and microbiological change during period of a storage life of 11/2 month thus rendering the product suitable for marketing.