Enzyme treatments and yield of soluble solids
Pectolytic enzymes have been used for increasing the
yield of juice from stone fruits like peaches, plums and
apricots (Joshi, Chauham, & Lal, 1991). No such
attempt to use pectinase enzymes in the extraction of
soluble solids from date fruits has been reported so far.
By using these enzyme preparations, the extraction yield of soluble solids was enhanced to 67.5 and 68.22% for
Birhi and Safri varieties, respectively. The extraction
yields almost doubled with the enzyme preparations
compared with that of hot water or autoclaving techniques.
The addition of enzyme preparations, even at the
level of 0.5%, was found to increase the extraction yield
of soluble solids from about 63.10 to 66.58% for these
varieties (Table 5). The use of 2.0% enzyme level was
not significantly different than the 1% level, so the use
of 1% pectinase and cellulase enzyme preparations was
found to be optimal for the maximum extraction yields
of soluble solids from date fruit pulps. As the extraction
yields of soluble solids from date pulps increased by
almost 100%, this may open up the avenue for the use
of such enzyme preparations for date fruit pulp processing
for the development of sucrose substitutes based on
date fruits.