EVALUATION OF NEW NON-TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS PROCESSED FROM CAPE GOOSEBERRY (PHYSALIS PERUVIANA L.).

Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana, L.) is considered to be a very promising horticultural crop known in Egypt as Harankash as well as gaining popularity in the specialty markets. Currently it is usually used for local consumption in Egypt as a snack food. Therefore this current research aimed to utilize such crop by preparing and evaluating some food products such as canned compote, dehydrated fruits, nectar, syrup, paste, jam and appetizers. General characteristics, physical, chemical and technological properties, and some bioactive compounds of cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana, L.) were investigated. The cape gooseberry pulp has a light sweet taste (TSS 13. 75) with acidic nature (pH 3.7 and titratable acidity was 1.20 % as citric acid), Non reducing sugars represented about (52.95 %) of the total sugars which were (56.24% ). The results also indicated that cape gooseberry can be considered as good source B-carotene, vitamin C, total phenolic content, flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity in addition to some minerals such as potassium, magnesium, iron and zinc. The cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana, L.) was used to formulate some important functional foods. The organoleptic properties of all processed products in this study were well palatable among different panelists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]