Cashew apple juice: its use in fortifying the nutritional quality of some tropical fruits

The physico-chemical properties of some tropical fruits (pineapple, orange, grape, mango and lemon) were analyzed and compared with those of cashew apple. Cashew apple juice was found to contain the highest amount of vitamin C (203.5mg/100 ml) of edible portion. Orange, grape, pineapple, mango and lemon contained average values of 54.7mg, 45.0mg, 14.70mg, 30.9 mg and 33.7mg vitamin C per 100 mi of juice respectively. Obviously, cashew apple juice contains almost four times the amount of vitamin C in the popular citrus fruits and more than four times as much vitamin C as in other fruits. Hence, when cashew apple was blended with other tropical fruits it boosted their nutritional quality. On the other hand, these fruits improved the acceptability of cashew juice in terms of taste and flavour. The blends, even though significantly different (P<0.05) in taste, colour and mouthfeel, were all acceptable to consumers with no significant difference (P > 0.05) in overall acceptability.