J. Basic. Appl. Sci. Res., 2(12)12097-12100, 2012 © 2012, TextRoad Publication ISSN 2090-4304 Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research www.textroad.com *Correspondence Author: Majid Aliabadi, Young Researchers Club, Birjand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Birjand, Iran, Phone: (+98) 561 4342001, E-mail: che.engineering@gmail.com A Revival of Traditional BEH-ROB Marmalade and Inspecting Its Sensory and Physiochemical Characteristics Amir Abdollahi 1 , Mohammad Hosein Hadad-khodaparast 2 , Alieh Abyar 3 , Majid Aliabadi 4,* 1 Food Science and Technology Department, Sabzevar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sabzevar, Iran 2 Food Science and Technology Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran 3 Chemical Engineering Department, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran 4 Young Researchers Club, Birjand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Birjand, Iran ABSTRACT BEH ROB marmalade is a traditional product in Iran, produced by boiling the pomegranate juice along with quince puree and sugar. In this research we examined the effect of quince fruit (0%, 10%, 25% and 40%) and sugar (0%, 10%, 20% and 30%) on sensory characteristics including taste, color, consistency, adhesiveness, spreadability on the bread and the overall acceptability, chemical characteristics including acidity, pH, Brix and total solids and color analysis including L*, a* and b* index of BEH ROB marmalade. The experiments were conducted using full factorial design. The results of experiments indicated that the increased amount of quince puree leads to the increase of stiffness and adhesiveness desirability and the decrease of color desirability (P < 0.05). Furthermore, adding the quince puree and sugar caused the decrease of acidity and the increase of pH and total solids (P < 0.05). Furthermore, it was concluded that adding the puree causes the decrease of a* and b* and adding sugar causes the increase of a*, b* and L* (P< 0.05). Additionally, the results of experiments showed that the best treatment contains 25% of quince, and 20% of sugar and the worst treatment contains 40% of quince without any sugar. KEYWORDS: pomegranate; sensory characteristics; physicochemical characteristics; marmalade; quince. INTRODUCTION Pomegranates (Punica granatum L.) are special to tropical regions and most botanists suppose that its origin was the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea coast and Zagros Mountains, Iran [1]. From the old days, it has been a custom to make jam as a way of preserving fruits and vegetables. The difference of these products is related to the size and type of the fruit pieces used [2]. In fact, marmalade is the fruit jelly in which there are little fruit pieces with skin in the form of suspension [3]. In South Khorasan varieties of pomegranate such as Shishe Kap, Bajestani and Ardestani are cultivated widely in the cities near the desert margins. This research aims at making a new product using the pomegranates wastes. Some of the previous researches about the process of production of jam and their chemical and sensory characteristics have been published in the literature [4, 5]. But to our knowledge, no work has been reported in the literature on the sensory and physiochemical characteristics of BEH-ROB marmalade. In this research the sensory characteristics (i.e. taste, color, consistency, stiffness, adhesiveness, spreadability on the bread and the overall acceptability), chemical characteristics (i.e. acidity, pH, Brix, and total solids), and color (L*, a* and b* indexes) of BEH ROB marmalade have been examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS Marmalade Production Pomegranate (Shishe Kap variety), quince and sugar were used to produce the marmalade. Pomegranates were juiced manually and the quince was grinded in the form of puree. The processed fruits were kept in the fridge so that their physicochemical changes were minimized. Quince puree, sugar or both were added to the pomegranate juice and kept under the process of cooking to reach 68 °Brix. Then little containers were filled and kept in the fridge for 24 hours to turn into Jelly. Experiments Sensory quality tests were performed using a 15 non-trained panelist with a 7 points Hedonic scale [6]. Each panelist examined all samples randomly and individually, and fresh water was drunk between each two phases for better specification. Brix was measured with a manual RHBO-80 refractometer, pH was measured with a pH_11 Sartorius pH meter and acidity (based on citric acid) was measured compliant with Iranian 214 standard (jam, marmalade, and jelly) [7]. 12097