Cottage Processing of Black Plum (Vitex doniana) into Juice in Katsina State, North-Western Part of Nigeria

Abstract

Black plum (Vitex doniana) is among the perishable fruits which if not processed would get contaminated by microorganisms. The equipment such as extractor, filter press, pasteurization pot and a capping machine were fabricated for processing black plum fruits into juice. The processing of fruits into juice started with sorting, washing, extraction, filtration, pasteurization, bottling and capping. The juice yield, capacity and efficiency of the extractor were found to be 75.8%,1.56kg/min and 92.2% respectively. Pasteurization temperature which ranges from 36OC to 90OCaffected the proximate composition and pH of the juice. The increase in pasteurization temperature showed an increase in crude protein, crude fibre, ash and pH while other parameters such as carbohydrate, moisture and fat change differently. The research showed that variation in pasteurization temperature affects the proximate composition of black plum juice. Attaining a temperature of 60OC was recommended for black plum juice pasteurization.