Blended Nectar of Custard Apple - A Novel Processed Product to Address Nutritional Food Security

Abstract

Custard apple or Sitaphal (Annona squamosa L.) is a deciduous tree having yellowish-green fruit. The fruits are highly perishable but nutritionally rich and delicious. The fruits are harvested for a short period of time during pre-winter. Due to bumper harvest in a short period and perishable nature of fruits, the farmers are compelled to sell their produce at a lower price. Post-harvest processing is not yet suitably standardised. Rapid softening of fruits and marketing is a major problem. The shelf-life of custard apple fruit can be increased upto 12 days if stored at 10 °C, whereas the extracted pulp can be stored for six months with potassium meta-bisulphite. Many value-added products like ready-to-serve beverages, fermented beverage, ice cream, squash, and toffee can be prepared to exploit the nutritional potential and adding a new flavour/ taste. Therefore this paper attempts to outline post-harvest, processing value addition and storage of these fruits.