1052 Environment & Ecology 30 (3C) : 1052—1057, July—September 2012 Website: environmentandecology.com Physico-Chemical and Sensory Parameters of Muskmelon Blended Pomegranate Squash and Syrup Hamid Salari, K.N. Sreenivas, T. H. Shankarappa, H. C. Krishna, A. P. Mallikarjuna Gowda Received 2 May 2012 ; Accepted 20 July 2012 ; Published online 27 July 2012 Abstract An investigation was carried out to develop squash and syrup beverages from muskmelon by blending it with pomegranate. The squash prepared with 35% blended juice (80% muskmelon and 20% pomegranate juice), 45 0 B TSS and 1% acidity and syrup prepared with 50% blended juice (50 % muskmelon and 50% pomegranate juice), 65 0 B TSS and 1.5% acidity had recorded the highest scores for their sensory quality up to four months storage period evaluated During the four months of storage TSS, pH, viscosity, reducing sugar and total sugars had increased in the products while non-reducing sugar, acidity and ascorbic acid content had decreased. The product was free from spoilage during storage. Keywords Muskmelon, Pomegranate, Squash, Syrup, Recipe. Muskmelon is a commercially important fruit veg- etable cultivated throughout the world, comprising tropical and sub-tropical regions. China, Iran, Turkey and the USA together produce 57 per cent of the total world production. The total area under muskmelon cultivation in the world during, 2008 was 1.34 million hectares with the total production of 28.77 million metric tonnes (1). Muskmelon is an important truck crop of India and is cultivated throughout the coun- try. It has become an important cash crop of north India, especially Punjab, Utter Pradesh and Rajasthan (2). Muskmelon flesh contains 3.5 g carbohydrates, 0.3 g protein, 0.2 g fat, 3420 IU vitamin A, 26 mg ascor- bic acid, 32 mg calcium, 1.4 mg iron, 14 mg phospho- rus and 341 mg potassium (3). Muskmelon is relished as a desert fruit, it is low in calories and fats or cho- lesterol and is an excellent source of vitamins A and C and minerals. Pomegranate is generally consumed as a dessert fruit. The arils of the fruit are fleshy, juicy and acidic with pleasant aroma. Commonly it is uti- lized as acidulant in traditional foods. Pomegranate fruits of good quality fetch fairly good price in the market and are not much used for the processing pur- poses. However, low quality fruits including cracked, damaged, spotted or small sized fruits may be utilized for processing. Pomegranate fruits with large juicy grains may give an attractive colored juice. Mild sweet- ness, acidic taste and low tannin contents are the desirable characteristics for processing. Pomegran- ate fruits processed to delicately flavored RTS bever- age and pomegranate squash was found to be ac- ceptable by many consumers. Further, pomegranate juice can be blended with other fruit drinks (4). Devel- opment of value added products from muskmelon and pomegranate could find importance as health drinks in this regard an attempt was made to produce value added products such as squash and syrup using the blends of muskmelon and pomegranate fruits juices in different combinations and was evaluated for their keeping quality and acceptance for a period of four months. Materials and Methods Standardization of recipe for muskmelon blended bev- erages was carried out at the processing laboratory of the Department of Horticulture, University of Agri- cultural Sciences, Bengaluru during 2009-10. Musk- melon and pomegranate fruits were purchased from local vendors in Sahakaranagar, Bengaluru and used Department of Post Harvest Technology, University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot, P. G. Center, GKVK, Bengalura, India e-mail shankarappath@gmail.com H. Salari, K. N. Sreenivas, T. H. Shankarappa, H. C. Krishna, A. P. Mallikarjuna Gowda Introduction