ABSTRACT

With an intense desire to improve the drinking quality of cucumber juice. Cucumber juice treated with pineapple juice as sweetener and flavoring was produced and evaluated. Cucumber juice obtained after extraction and filtration was treated with different ratio of pineapple juice to established three samples (A, B, C) while sample D and E were raw cucumber juice and control respectively. Physico-chemical, proximate analysis, sensory and microbial content to the samples were investigated. Physico-chemical properties and proximate analysis were carried out using the standard methods, 20 untrained panelists were recruited to access the sensory attributes of the five samples of the juice (A, B, C, D, E) base on following sensory parameters: flavor, color, consistency, appearance, arid general acceptability. Microbial counts of the samples were accessed using Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and Tryptone Dextrose Agar (TDA) respectively for bacteria and fungi growth. The results shown that, increase in quantity of pineapple juice resulted in increase in nutritional, sensory, and physiochemical properties of cucumber juice. The result also shows that increase pineapple juice resulted in reduction in the microbial counts. Therefore, treatment of cucumber juice with pineapple can help to improve the drinking quality of cucumber juice, increase in nutritional value and extend the shelf life of cucumber juice.