INTRODUCTION
Increase awareness in health issue leads
to increase in consumption of natural products.
Epidemiological studies have consistently shown
that high fruit and vegetable consumption is
associated with a reduced risk of several chronic
diseases such as coronary heart disease,
cardiovascular disease, cancer, aging,
atherosclerosis neurodegenerative disease (such as
Parkinson and Alzheimer), and inflammation
(Dillard and German, 2000). The use of natural
sweeteners rather than sucrose is an interesting area for the food industry. The high fructose corn
syrup as sweetener has increased in using since
recent years. Other raw materials like sugarcane,
sugar beet and corn as sources of syrup with high
fructose content are important at present. Recently,
grapes have been investigated as another potential
source of syrup. Meta et al. (2005) studied the
possibility of commercial black walnut syrup
(Juglans nigra) to compete with maple syrup. The
pure walnut syrup could be commercially potential
as a replacement for pure maple syrup. Saenz et
al. (1998) studied the use of cactus pear (Opuntia
ficus indica L.) to obtain a new liquid sweetener.