Study on development of pitaya fruit (Hylocereus undatus) incorporated ice cream; an alternative solution to the pitaya cultivators in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Study was conducted to determine the composition of pitaya (Hylocereus sp.) pulp, to develop an ice-cream incorporated with pitaya pulp and to evaluate the shelf life of the pitaya pulp incorporated ice cream. Ice-cream samples were prepared with three different proportions of pitaya pulp, 12%, 15% and 18% (w/w). A sensory evaluation was done by sevenpoint Hedonic scale on 20 semi-trained panellists. Physico-chemical and microbial analyses were conducted during storage. The ice-cream with 12% (w/w) pulp yielded the highest consumer preference.