The Effect of the Addition of Some Plant Components on Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Nutraceutical Fruit Leather

Fruit leathers are nutritious products that are made by dehydrating a thin layer of fruit puree or juice under specific conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of various plant components (pistachio, walnut, sesame, hemp and moringa leaves) on the physicochemical, sensory and antioxidant properties of plum leather. The amounts of 5% of these components were added to the plum leather formulation and the pH, total acidity, vitamin C content, color indices, mechanical property (rupture force), phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, and sensorial properties of these treatments were compared with control. The results showed that the lowest pH (3.0) and the highest acidity (4.2% w/w) and vitamin C content (210 mg/100 g) were related to the control. Addition of different plant components increased the pH and decreased total acidity. Adding these components to plum leather increased the phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of samples and the highest amount of phenolic compounds (1024 mg/100 g) and anti radical activity (52%) were observed in treatments with sesame powder. The highest amount of rupture force was related to the control (25.4 N). Other treatments did not show a significant difference in terms of rupture force (P> 0.05). In terms of sensorial characteristics, the highest overall acceptance was obtained by control and the samples containing pistachio and moringa leaves. Addition of these components decreased the brightness (L *) and yellowing (b *) indices and increased a * index compared to the control. In general, the results of this study showed that the addition of plant components, in addition to creating new leather formulations, increases their antioxidant properties and nutritional values.