Development and Quality Evaluation of Freeze-Dried Instant Green Smoothie Powder

Fruits and vegetables are healthy food sources which contain nutrients and phytochemicals with health-promoting properties. The production of healthy and more convenient products can be contributed to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables. In this study, a novel, instant food product which is more nutritive was developed using locally available fruits and green leafy vegetables and the physicochemical, microbial, and sensory qualities of the product were studied. The most acceptable formula for the fresh green smoothie was 28.6% green content with 71.4% fruit content. The developed green smoothie was freeze dried to obtain an instant green smoothie powder. The instant green smoothie powder was analyzed for proximate composition: protein (2.67 ± 0.00), fat (1.96 ± 0.001), moisture (4.82 ± 0.003), ash (1.22 ± 0.000), and fiber (28.57 ± 0.008). This instant powder contained 129.5 ppm vitamin C content and higher amount of minerals such as K (0.98 ± 0.12 mg/g), Ca (1.74 ± 0.03 mg/g), and Fe (0.04 ± 0.004 mg/g). The powder properties revealed that the powder has very good flowability (6.665 ± 2.354) according to the Carr Index and it has low cohesiveness (1.0713 ± 0.0264) according to the Hausner ratio. The solubility (94.71 ± 2.4253) of the powder complied with the SLS (668: 1984). The microbiological analysis revealed that this powder only contains 1 log CFU/ml of total plate count. This instant powder can be introduced as a more convenient and healthy choice for the consumers which has acceptable sensory properties, better microbiological stability, and very good powder properties.