ISSN 2736-1756
Advanced Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 2017
Available online at http://internationalscholarsjournals.org/journal/ajmr
© 2017 International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Utilization of enzymes in the production of liquid sugar from dates
Gamal A. El-Sharnouby 1* , Salah M. Al-Eid 2 and Mutlag M. Al – Otaibi 1
1Department of Food and Nutrition Sciences, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa 31982, P.O. 420, Saudi Arabia
2Date Palm Research Center, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa 31982, P. O. 400, Saudi Arabia.
Accepted 26 January, 2017
Abstract
Date palm fruits Phoenix dactylifera cultivated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were used for the production of high quality date syrup. This syrup is suitable for the manufacture of different food products. Date syrup was prepared from Reziz date (Soft variety) at different ratios of water/date (2:1, 2.5:1 and 3:1) . Pectinase and cellulase were used to obtain the maximum date syrup extraction. Data revealed that Reziz variety contained high total sugar content (about 83.51% on dry basis). The extraction rate of sugars increased as the water/flesh ratio increased. Also, the use of pectinase/cellulase gave the highest recovery of total soluble solids (65.6 to 70.7%) compared with control (50.5 to 56.30%). The resultant date syrups were evaluated for their physico-chemical charac-teristics and compared with cane syrup (Black honey). Results of the organoleptic evaluation proved that date syrup is considered to be highly desirable than cane syrup. Results indicate the possibility of employing pectinase/cellulase to produce concentrated date syrup from tamr fruits for use in food product development.
Key words: Date fruits, Reziz, date syrup, pectinase, cellulose, physico-chemical characteristics.