Various parameters affecting to the production of papaya (Carica papaya L.) jam

In the post-harvest stage, papaya fruit is highly perishable due to its climacteric characteristic and high respiration rate. Papayas are typically consumed fresh, but converting them into jam as a value-added foodstuff could help minimize losses. The purpose of this research was to evaluate various papaya fruit varieties (namely Va505, Vo786, Sapna, Mangnum, Tn55) and key technical variables such as blanching temperature/time, thickness of papaya strip, gelatin ratio, sucrose ratio and lemon juice ratio concerning the color, texture and overall acceptability of papaya jam. Raw matured papaya fruits at technical maturity were selected for the experiments. Papaya strips were blanched in hot water at different temperature and time (80 °C for 30 min, 85 °C for 25 min, 90 °C for 20 min, 95 °C for 15 min and 100 °C for 10 min). These blanched papaya strips were then mixed with varying concentration of sucrose (20, 25, 30, 35, 40%), gelatin (0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6%) and lemon juice (2, 3, 4, 5, 6%). The samples were kept at 8 oC for 30 min before heating at 100 oC for 25 min. The results showed that the Sapna variety had the highest contents of beta-carotene (8.72±0.01 µg/g) and ascorbic acid (68.17±0.14 g/100 g), while the Vo786 variety had the lowest contents of beta-carotene (4.17±0.02 µg/g) and ascorbic acid (64.49±0.09 g/100 g). For the preparation of papaya jam, the papaya fruit should be peeled and sliced into strips with a thickness of 2.0 mm. These strips should be blanched primarily at 95 °C for 15 min, then mixed with 30% sucrose, 0.5% gelatin and 5% lemon juice. The mixture should be allowed to stand at 8 °C for 30 min before being heated at 100 °C for 25 min. The stripped papaya jam should then be cooled, packed in plastic bags and stored at ambient temperature for 6 months. This study successfully identified Sapna as the appropriate papaya fruit variety and verified several major parameters for jam making. The formulated Papaya jam is designed to maintain its quality for long shelf-life storage