Preparation of pineapple leather and quality analysis

Fruit leather is a type of dried fruit made from fresh fruit. The fruit leather in this study was produced from pineapple puree and jaggery as the main ingredient. The objective of this study was to determine the best formulation to produced pineapple leather and to determine the quality of pineapple leather in terms of physical properties, colour and water activity aw. This study used four different formulations, F1, F2, F3 and F4 that consist of different compositions of jaggery, 0 g, 40 g, 60 g, and 120 g and different amounts of pineapple purees, which were 400 g, 360 g, 340 g, and 280 g, respectively. Brookfield CT3 Texture Analyser was used to analyse physical properties in terms of hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and chewiness. Furthermore, the colour analysis parameters L* a* b* using Konica Minolta Chroma Meter CR-400 and Paw kit for water activity analysis. The t-test was used to determine if there were significant different in comparative between the all formulations. The range of data obtained from the formulation F1, F2, F3 and F4 for the physical properties in analysis of hardness (44.83 g to 110.0 g), adhesiveness (0.03 mJ to 0.20 mJ), cohesiveness (0.65 J/m2 to 0.82 J/m2), springiness (0.14 cm to 0.20 cm), gumminess (28.33 g to 78.00 g), chewiness (0.40 g to 1.20 g). The lightness value (L*) for colour analysis of pineapple leather decreased as the percentage of jaggery increased. In addition, the redness value (a*) increased while the value of yellowness (b*) decreased. Moreover, the water activity analysis was in the range (0.76 to 0.91). Therefore, formulation of F3 was the satisfactory formulation based on its quality of physical properties, colour, and water activity compared with other F1, F2, and F4. In conclusion, this study proved that fruit leather produced from pineapple and jaggery warranted further research development before it can be commercialised.