Effect of Adding Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Juice and Seed Extract on the Physicochemical, Rheological and Sensory Properties of Ice Cream

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of adding different concentrations (2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10%) of pomegranate juice (PJ) and 1% of pomegranate seed extract (PS) on the physicochemical and sensory properties of ice cream. Increase concentration of PJ and PS caused increase in ash, pH and overrun values of ice cream. Similarly, there was increase in the total solid, acidity as well as viscosity of the ice cream samples. The addition of PJ and PS significantly improved the concentration of zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), Manganese (MN) and non-heam iron (Fe) in the ice cream. According to this study, the hardness of Ice cream was affected by different levels of PJ and PS. The result of the sensory evaluation showed that the ice cream with 10% PJ was the highest evaluated by the panelist. The use of pomegranate in the formulation of ice cream, it is hoped, will foster economic utility, meet the ever-changing consumers’ preference for new foods and provide a safe food medium through which important nutrients can be made available to consumers.