Production and storage stability of non-alcoholic pawpaw beverage powder.

Powder for instant non-alcoholic pawpaw beverage formulation was manufactured by traditional sundrying and controlled ovendrying. The reconstituted beverage was organoleptically acceptable. The effect of sundrying on mats and ovendrying on product quality was investigated. Sundrying resulted into losses of vitamins A and C, and total sugar by 97, 98 and 87 percent; while, oven drying losses were 92, 98 and 87 percent, respectively. Nutrient losses during storage in transparent polythene bags at ambient conditions reached 98, 98 and 82 percent in sundried samples and; 87, 99 and 67 percent in ovendried samples respectively. The moisture content of sundried and oven dried samples increased by 14 percent during storage. The increase in microbial load during storage was higher in sundried samples.