Physicochemical, Sensory Properties and Bacteria Load of Jam Produced from Squash (Cucurbita) Fruit

Squash fruit (Cucurbita) jam was prepared from varying compositions of squash fruit and sugar with pineapple jam used as control. The blends were 300:300, 300:360; 300: 420, 300: 480 grams of squash fruit and sugar respectively and 300:300grams of pineapple and sugar for the control. The proximate composition of the squash jam had moisture content ranging between 13.98-35.86%, ash 0.34-0.49%, protein 2.54-5.13% and carbohydrate 59.50-83.50% respectively. The physicochemical properties of the jam had 3.35-3.75 for pH, 60-80ᵒbrix for sugar, 64.15-86.43mg/L total solid and 0.0011-0.0022% vitamin C respectively. Total titratable acidity (TTA) ranged between 2.59-3.78%, while viscosity values ranged between 13.62-21.29pas. The pH, sugar (ᵒbrix), total solid, vitamin C, titratable acidity and viscosity were significantly different ((P ˂0.05) among the blends. The microbiological properties showed the total bacterial count for squash jam stored for four weeks. The heterotrophic count result ranged from 0-30 x 106cfu/ml and 0-2.0 x 106cfu/ml for week zero and week one, 0-3.1 x 107cfu/ml and 0-7.2 x 107cfu/ml for week two and week three respectively. The sensory properties for the jam produced from squash ranged from 4.45-8.25 and from 5.25-7.75 for color and aroma, 4.75-7.35 and 5.25-7.65 for taste and texture and 4.90-8.05 and 4.55 – 7.95 for spreadability and general acceptability respectively. The color, aroma, taste, texture, spreadability and general acceptability increased significantly (P˂0.05) with increase in sugar substitution. The result indicated that the jam sample with 300g: 300g (1:1) squash to sugar competed favorably in the sensory attributed.