Development, physicochemical quality analysis, and nutritional evaluation of mango and date fruit bars, enriched with quinoa

Food bars made with variety of fruits and pseudocereals offer both nutritional and bioactive contents. This study aimed to develop and evaluate quinoa-based functional fruit bars incorporating mango and dates, at three quinoa flour concentrations (10%, 20%, and 30%). The research employed proximate, mineral, total sugars, reducing and non-reducing sugars, in vitro starch digestibility, calorific value, water holding capacity, brix content, color, microbiological safety, sensory, texture analysis and storage studies over a 45-day period following standard protocols. For quinoa-based fruit bars, protein content ranged from 14.51% (day 0) to 8.88% (day 45) across treatments, while calorific values decreased from 316.41 kcal to 297.90 kcal. Moisture content declined significantly, from 18.253% on day 0 to 14.130% on day 45, leading to an increase in hardness value from 233.77 g to 635.00 g. Sensory analysis revealed that the bar with 20% quinoa flour were considered as the most acceptable, achieving the highest scores for aroma and texture throughout storage. For mango-based fruit bars, protein content ranged from 13.21% (day 0) to 9.42% (day 45), and calorific values varied from 314.78 kcal to 301.43 kcal. Moisture content decreased from 17.52% to 14.28%, resulting in hardness values increasing from 245.50 g to 598.00 g. For both date and mango bars, total sugars (44.30–62.15%), starch digestibility (336.86–455.76%), water-holding capacity (0.6873% to 0.5077%) and brix values (47.35–71.98) varied significantly, while color values declined and microbial counts remained safe over storage. These results demonstrated that quinoa-enriched fruit bars maintain nutritional quality and consumer acceptability over 45 days, making them a promising functional snack.