ABSTRACT

 The nutrient composition and sensory properties of drink made from blends of jackfruit, coconut and date were studied. Drinks were processed by respectively blending jackfruit, coconut and date in the following ratios: 600:0:0 (Bl), 300:200:100 (B2), 400:140:60 (B3), 200:300:100 (B4) and 300:100:200 (B5). Drink processed from 600g ofjackfruit served as the control. The proximate composition, mineral contents, vitamin contents, phytochemical contents, physicochemical contents and sensory properties of the drinks were determined using standard laboratory procedures. IBM Statistical Product of Service Solution (Version 20.0) was used to ^statistically analyse the generated data. The result of proximate composition showed that moisture content, protein, fat, fibre, ash and carbohydrate contents ofthe drinks ranged from 88.58 to 91.62%, 0.94 to 1.11%, 0.86 to 1.13% and 5.30 to 8.43%, respectively. The mineral contents of the drinks were found to range from 36.67 to 38.80 mg/lOOml, 28.17 to 37.33 mg/lOOml, 257.17 to 311.97 mg/lOOml, 4.99 to 8.24 mg/lOOml and 40.93 to 64.80 mg/lOOml for calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and phosphorus, respectively. The result of vitamin contents showed the pro-vitamin A (41.87 to 45.07 mg/lOOml), vitamin Bi (0.02 to 0.05 mg/lOOml), vitamin B2 (0.13 to 0.16 mg/lOOml), vitamin B3 (0.37 to 0.45 mg/lOOml) and vitamin C (6.67 to 11.53 mg/lOOml) contents ofthe drink. The phytochemical contents ofthe drink showed that their alkaloid, saponin, flavonoid, tannin and phenol contents ranged from 0.11 to 0.13 mg/lOOml, 0.10 to 0.14 mg/lOOml, 0.13 to 0.23 mg/lOOml, 0.29 to 0.37 mg/lOOml and 0.07 to 0.11 mg/lOOml, respectively. In terms ofphysicochemical properties ofthe drinks, pH was found to ranged 5.27 to 5.83 whereas the total titratable acidity, total solid and specific gravity ofthe drink ranged from 0.21 to 0.35%, 9.93 to 11.42% and 1.09 to 1.13 g/cm , respectively. As regards the sensory properties ofthe drinks, beside that the flavour ofsample B5 (Drink made from 300g jackfruit, 100g coconut and 200g date pulp) and the taste of B4 (Drink made from 200g jackfruit, 300g coconut and 100g date pulp) were neither like nor dislike the panelists, the appearance, flavour, taste, mouthfeel and general acceptability of all the drinks samples were liked by the panelists with B3 (Drink made from 400g jackfruit, 140g coconut and 60g date pulp) and Bl (Drink made from 600g jackfruit) having the highest rating of appearance (6.83) and flavour (7.88), respectively whereas B5 had the highest rating of taste (7.28), mouthfeel (6.76) and general acceptability (6.77). It is feasible to supplement jackfruit with coconut and date fruit in processing of nutritious, quality and acceptable drinks. Sample B4 is recommended for consumers that requires drinks from blends ofjackfruit, coconut and date fruit with increased minerals whereas samples Bl and B3 are highly suggested for those that desire more vitamins