RESEARCH ARTICLE Influence of Processing Variables and Storage on the Fruit Drink Developed from Taktir; Wild Fruit of Himalaya P. Suresh Kumar • V. K. Choudhary • P. Devi • M. Kanwat • A. Sangeetha Received: 16 April 2014 / Revised: 11 July 2014 / Accepted: 24 July 2014 Ó The National Academy of Sciences, India 2014 Abstract Taktir is one of the fruits consumed by the large population of eastern Himalaya and other south east Asian countries. The fruits were harvested in five different harvesting times starting from second fortnight of April to mid of May to adjudge the best maturity time for fresh consumption and processing of fruits. The fruits harvested during 1st week of May were fully matured, rich in sugar, ascorbic acid (16. 54 mg/100 g), overall acceptability (7.46) and edible portion (79.35 %). Different combina- tions of juice percentage and total soluble solids were tried for the development of drink. A drink with 22.5 % juice and 40°B was found best by a panel of semi-trained judges and excelled in most of the chemical attributes. Taktir drink was further analyzed for chemical composition and microbial safety during 3 months of storage under room temperature and low temperature in day light and dark condition packed in pet and glass bottles. TSS, pH and reducing sugar increased while acidity, ascorbic acid and total sugar dropped off. Anthocyanin was degraded with the increase in storage period. The ‘a’ value was found to be decreasing as the storage interval increased. However yeast, mould, E. coli and total plate counts could not be detected in the beverage. The maximum score (8.1) for over all acceptability was observed with 4 °C Dark PB (pet bottles) at the end of storage period. Keywords Garcinia lancifolia Á Fruit drink Á Sensory attributes Á Microbial safety Á Storage Introduction Wild plants are generally rich in protective chemicals like vitamins and minerals. They play an important role in combating the ‘silent hunger’ in the developing and under- developed countries [1, 2]. Fruits and vegetables play a significant role in the making of balanced human diet providing protection against cellular damage caused by exposure to high levels of free radicals [3–6], and aid in digestion also. At present, fruit beverages have been increasingly gaining popularity amongst different sections of society due to doubt about the health problems by drinking carbonated cola drinks [7]. These beverages are largely being prepared from traditional fruits like mango, orange, pineapple and plum [2, 8, 9]. There is a tendency to prepare such drinks as and when needed at home. Besides rich in nutrient, the colour and taste of taktir make it a good fruit for making fruit juice based beverages. Among different indigenous fruit trees grown in India, Taktir is one of the fruits consumed by a large population of eastern Himalaya and other south east Asian countries. Taktir (Garcinia lancifolia. Roxb) is a shrub, ever green plant, growing up to 5 m height in dense forest, in an altitude range of 515–750 m above msl. It belongs to the family Clusiaceae [2]. Leaves are alternate, petioled and oblong. A tree comes to flowering in Oct-Dec. Flowers are P. Suresh Kumar (&) NIASM, Baramati, Pune, Maharashtra, India e-mail: psureshars@gmail.com V. K. Choudhary NIBSM, Raipur, Chattisgarh, India e-mail: ind_vc@rediffmail.com P. Devi Á A. Sangeetha ICAR RC NEHR, AP Centre, Basar, Arunachal Pradesh, India e-mail: prims_devi@yahoo.com M. Kanwat SKNAU, Jobner, Rajasthan, India e-mail: kanwat_manish@gmail.com 123 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. DOI 10.1007/s40011-014-0408-6