Unlocking the impact of citric acid and sugar on the nutritional, physicochemical, microbial and sensorial attributes of mango fruit leathers.

This study investigated the effects of citric acid and sugar on the quality of mango fruit leather during 0-90 days of storage. The nutritional and textural properties of mango fruit leathers showed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in ash, K, Mg, vitamin C i.e., 1.9-2, 270-275, 21-23, and 22-24 mg/100 g, respectively, while a decrease in moisture and hardness of samples i.e., 17-15 % and 8.6-5.6 N in MFL0 (i.e., zero citric acid and sugar) to MFLCS (i.e., 0.2 % citric acid+10 % sugar), respectively. DPPH activity, total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoids content (TFC) significantly (p < 0.05) increased from 48.2 to 61.5 %, 170-400 mg GAE/g and 126-163 mg CE/g in MFL0-MFLCS, respectively. Likewise, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis reported significant differences in surface morphology in each treatment. L ⁎ , a ⁎ and b ⁎ values were notably decreased from 52.7 to 46, 17-12 and 29-16 in MFL0-MFLCS, respectively at 0-90 of storage. On storage, pH deceased from 4.1 to 3.7 and titratable acidity increased from 0.5 to 0.6 in MFL0-MFLCS, respectively. Total plate counts (TPC), mold and yeast count elucidated measurable decrease form 3.4-3 and 2-1.7 at 90th day of storage, respectively. Sensory panelists gave the highest sensory scores to MFLCS (i.e., 0.2 % citric acid+10 % sugar) for its superior sensory attributes and overall acceptability. Conclusively, MFLCS showed the best results for all parameters; however, further studies are recommended to develop and evaluate fruit leathers for quality using different fruits at multiple concentrations of citric and sugar.