Abstract:
All fruit peels contain pectin at their cell wall and some pectin is also found in fruit pulp.
Pectin is an important factor during fruit ripening, and the amount of pectin varies in
different types of fruits. Pectin is widely used as a gelling agent, thickener, emulsifier and
stabilizer in different food processing operations. Also, the pharmaceutical industries widely
use pectin. It has been reported that, pectin lower the blood cholesterol levels and low density
lipoprotein cholesterol fractions, which is beneficial for human health. It is also stated that,
pectin may help decrease tumor cell formation. Chemically, it represents a polysaccharide,
which is present in different amount in cell walls of all land plants. But some fruits are very
rich in this component and can be used as source for commercial production. In this study,
pineapple peel, passion fruit peel, jackfruit peel and apple were selected as a source of pectin.
These peels were heated in a solution of distilled water and citric acid at a temperature of
90°C for 1 hour with continuous stirring. The solution was filtered out and the filtrate was
treated with different low molecular weight alcohol such as ethanol to extract pectin. The
precipitate was dried at 40°C in cabinet dryer. The product was characterized by the
parameters such as yield, methoxyl content, anhydrouronic acid content, degree of
esterification, equivalent weight, jelly grade and colour characteristics. The characteristic
parameters were found to be in the same range as those shown by the product proposed in the
market as ̳Pectin‘. Finally, this pectin was used for the production of jelly.
