Abstract:
Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a well-known perennial tree and one of the major
suppliers of edible foodstuff in Sri Lanka. However, utilization of jack fruits has less
attention due to seasonality, pre-preparatory activities, and availability in urban and semiurban areas. Hence, the development of value-added products is one of the potential
alternatives to increase the shelf life, consumption, and utilization of jack fruits during the
season and to reduce the postharvest losses. Development of jack fruit pasta was
experimented by adding jack fruit seed (JFS), jack fruit bulb (JFB) (Madullu) flour and
cassava flour (CF) yielded after drying, grinding, and sieving (particle size <200µm).
Experiment were conducted with four composite flour formulations of JFS, JFB, CF, corn
starch and semolina as treatments, T1:30:30:10:10:20, T2:35:35:7.5:7.5:15,
T3:40:40:5:5:10, and T4:35:35:0:0:30 respectively. The best flour mixture was selected
based on the sensory evaluation using the Hedonic scale (7-points, 1-extremely dislike, 7-
extremely like) with 36 panelists and data analyzed by the Friedman test. Based on the
mean scores (colour 6.1, flavour 6.9, texture 5.1, aroma 5.3, and overall acceptability 6.3),
T3 was selected as the best formulation. T3 pasta possessed the highest contents of crude
protein (13.26±0.18%), crude fiber (4.91±0.61%), ash content (3.35±0.04%) than the
other treatments. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) among the
treatments for hardness, moisture, and water activity. The cooking characteristics of pasta
(T3), water absorption (1.2±2.4 g/g-1
), cooking time (8.5±0.3 min), swelling index
(2.5±4.2%) were higher than the other treatments while cooking loss (15.5± 1.3%) less
than the T1, T2, and T4. The lightness value of pasta was decreasing by increasing JFS
and JFB flour. Developed pasta using composite flour of T3 has significantly higher
nutrient content and more than 3 months shelf life at ambient temperature (26±2 oC). The
developed pasta has fulfilled the minimum product standards. In conclusion, the
developed jack fruit flour pasta (T3) possessed a high potential for commercial-scale
production as a convenient food for the consumers in urban areas with busy lifestyles.
Keywords: Jack fruit seed, Flour, Pasta, Cassava, Convenient food
