Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica [Lam.] Cogn.) powder, an underutilized indigenous crop, as a substitute to commercial pectin in the production of strawberry jam

The study investigated the potential of anchote (Coccinia abyssinica [Lam.] Cogn.) tuber powder as a substitute to commercial pectin. Mixture D-optimal design was used to generate 14 experimental runs using ranges: strawberry fruit (45-55%), sugar (43-53%), and anchote powder (0.75-1.75%). The effect of anchote powder on physico-chemical and textural qualities of the jams was evaluated. The parameters measured include: moisture content (30.7-32.8%), total soluble solid (50.7-65.4 oBrix), water activity (0.73-0.80), pH (2.93-3.13), titratable acidity (0.58-0.72%), gel strength (326.39-440.37 g mm), hardness (26.36-35.09 g), cohesiveness (0.89-0.94), energy of penetration (418.72-489.51 g s), adhesiveness (-25.38 to-103.79 g s) and stickiness (-13.78 to-29.22 g). The jam formulation J13 (50% strawberry, 48.2% sugar, 1.33% anchote) was best performing. Numerical opti-mization showed the best combination of parameters at 52.4% strawberry, 46.0% sugar, 1.07% anchote. The jam formulated with anchote powder was comparable with the jam made using pectin.