Intl. J. Food. Ferment. Technol. 6(1): 151-161, June, 2016 ©2016 New Delhi Publishers. All rights reserved DOI: 10.5958/2277-9396.2016.00038.6 RESEARCH PAPER Development of Appetizer from Box Myrtle (Myrica nagi) and its Quality Evaluation during Storage N.S. Thakur, *Abhimanyu Thakur and V.K. Joshi Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP 173230, India *Corresponding author: abhimanyuthakurprashar@gmail.com Paper No. 124 Received: 19-9-2015 Accepted: 12-4-2016 Abstract Box myrtle (Myrica nagi), a wild fruit is a rich source of antioxidants like phenols and anthocyanins, and has commercial importance because of higher sugar content. Investigations were conducted to develop a commercial appetizer (spiced squash) and evaluate its quality during storage. Different combinations of juice and sugar syrup were tried to standardize a proper combination for appetizer. The appetizer prepared by the optimize recipe was packed in glass and PET bo les and stored for six months under ambient and refrigerated temperature conditions. Appetizer could be safely stored for a period of six months under both the ambient and refrigerated conditions without much change in various quality characteristics. However, the changes in the quality characteristics of the appetizer were slower in refrigerated storage conditions as compared to ambient conditions. Both the packaging materials viz., PET and glass bo les were found suitable, with comparatively lesser changes occurring in glass bo le under refrigerated conditions than others. Keywords: Box myrtle, Myrica nagi, appetizer, spiced squash Box myrtle (Myrica nagi) is an important wild fruit which is known as kaafal in Himachal Pradesh. It belongs to genera Myrica in family myricaceae. Myrica genus has about 35-50 species of trees and shrubs. This genus is widely distributed in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Apparent centre of distribution of this genus is in Africa (Gibson and Jordan, 1983). The various Myrica species have been cultivated in China for centuries for their edible sub-sweetish fruits and kernels (Arora 1985). Among the various species Myrica nagi is a sub- temperate, evergreen wild tree found throughout the mid-Himalayas between 1300 meters to 2000 meters above the mean sea level. It is found in Khasia, Sylhet and southwards up to Singapore, Malaya Islands, China and Japan. In India, it is widely distributed between 900 to 2100 meters above mean sea level in Indian Himalaya from Ravi Eastward to Assam, Khasi, Jhantia, Naga and Lushi hills (Parmar and Kaushal, 1982). Trees of this species are evergreen in nature and the fruiting season starts from the first week of May and continues till the last week of this month. Its fruit is globose, succulent drupe which is pinkish red in colour (Parmar and Kaushal, 1982). The fruit yield increases with tree size and potential yield at different sites has been recorded as 2.0-4.2 tonnes/ha (Bha et al., 2000). The fruits of Myrica nagi are rich source of anti-oxidants along with other class of chemicals (Jeeva et al. 2011). Its fruits are known for their ravishing taste because of