Development and optimization of cactus pear fruit jelly supplemented with Moringa oleifera leaf extract

Cactus pear fruit and Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam) are nutritionally abundant food sources. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of cactus pear fruit for jelly development with the supplementation of M. oleifera leaves extract as means of postharvest loss, food insecurity and malnutrition reduction. D-optimal mixture design in Minitab Version 16 Statistical Software was used to generate ten experimental runs (formulations for jelly development) using 60–80% cactus fruit juice (CFJ), 0–20% M. oleifera extract (MOE), and 20–40% table sugar (TS). The developed jellies were analyzed for proximate composition, mineral content (Fe, Ca and Zn) and sensory evaluation. Nutritional and sensorial optimization was carried through a graphical approach using a D-optimal mixture design. The results indicated a significant difference in protein, fat, fibre, ash, carbohydrate, energy, iron, calcium, zinc, appearance, aroma, and taste amongst the formulated jellies (p < 0.05). In contrast, the significant difference was not observed in mouth feel and overall acceptability amongst the jellies. The overall optimum nutritional and sensorial attributes of the jelly were found in a range of CFJ (70–73%), MOE (3–14%) and TS (20–26%). However, developing jelly with the formulation of CFJ (68 %), MOE (12%) and TS (20%) was predicted to give the highest nutritional value and sensory acceptability score. The optimized result indicated the jelly would contain 3.97% protein, 0.92% fat, 1.09% fiber, 1.19% ash, 62.95% carbohydrate, 275.97 kcal/100 ​g energy, 98.45 mg/100 ​g calcium, 0.25 mg/100 ​g zinc, 7.43 mg/100 ​g iron and overall sensory acceptability score of 4.38 in five-point hedonic scale.