Effect of antioxidants on storage quality of apple sucrose bars

An experiment was conducted to study the comparative effect of citric acid and ascorbic acid as antioxidants and variations in concentration of sugar (20,30 and 35 °brix) on over-all quality of apple bars. potassium meta-bisulphite and pectin were added as preservatives and binding agent,respectively. quality of apple bars was evaluated within 3 months of storage,at 15-day intervals,in consideration of physicochemical and sensory aspects. in the bar samples,decrease was observed in water activity (0.69-0.64),moisture content (17.3-15.0 %),non-reducing sugars (4.12-3.92 %),ph (3.64-3.43),and ascorbic acid (3.11-0.61 mg/100 g). increasing trends were noted in reducing sugars (17.28-17.31 %),titratable acidity (1.24-1.47%) total solids (83.26-87.38 %) and total soluble solids (63.17-68.46 °brix) within 30 days of storage. also,the apple bars exhibited noticeable changes in color (8.50-6.73),texture (8.50- 6.58),taste (8.50-6.51) and overall acceptability (8.00-5.68) during 90 days of storage. the bars prepared with 35° brix and 0.1% citric acid exhibited comparatively higher stability in terms of physicochemical and sensory traits. © pakistan academy of sciences.