Sugar content and specific gravity as quality determinants of juice produced from banana varieties of Musa acuminate grown in Kagera Region, Tanzania

Abstract

The yield and quality of juice from various banana varieties grown in Kagera, Tanzania have been investigated in this study. The banana varieties used in this study include Mbilabile, Ekijoge, Kilomita, Mtwishi, Kalinaba, and Kainja. These are preferably used to produce local brewery drinks because of their unpleasant flavour and capability to produce banana juice. The bananas were collected from Muleba and Missenyi districts, ripened, and the juice was extracted using feet stomping. Results indicate that the highest juice yield of 0.41 and 0.40 L/Kg was obtained from the traditional mixture prepared at Missenyi including Ekijoge and Mtwishi varieties, respectively. The juice from Ekijoge, Mtwishi, and traditional mixtures of Muleba contained statistically higher TSS (p < 0.05) in the range of 23.0 ± 0.44 to 23.8 ± 0.52°Brix for concentrated juice. The second extracts of dilute juice from Ekijoge and Mtwishi contained statistically higher TSS of 15.27 ± 0.28 and 14.88 ± 0.23°Brix, respectively. The values of specific gravity ranged from 1.047 ± 0.008 to 1.115 ± 0.005, and from 1.00 ± 0.001 to 1.073 ± 0.007, for concentrated and dilute banana juices, respectively. The TSS of banana juice was strongly correlated with the specific gravity (r = 0.68), indicating a direct relationship between TSS and specific gravity of banana juice. This study has shown that blending ripe brewing bananas varieties during juice extraction process maximizes the yield and quality of juice.

Keywords

• Total soluble solids
• specific gravity
• ripe banana
• brewing
• banana fruits
• Food Chemistry