Postharvest Impact of Different Sugar Levels on Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus undatus) Candy

The Present experiment entitled “Postharvest Impact of Different sugar levels on Dragon fruit Candy” was conducted during year 2022 at the Post Harvest Laboratory in Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology & Sciences, Prayagraj. The objective of this research work was to analyze the proximate composition of dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) and to standardize the process for Dragon fruit candy. The experiment was conducted in completely randomized design (CRD) with eight treatments replicated thrice. The dragon fruit candy was made by using gelatin powder, citric acid. The treatment T6 (Dragon fruit +80% sugar) was found to be best during organoleptic quality and physico-chemical parameters like TSS (°Brix), pH, acidity (%), ascorbic acid (mg/100g), Texture Profile Analysis (TPS), reducing sugar(%), non-reducing sugar(%), total sugar(%). The prepared candies from dragon fruit were stored at ambient temperature (30°C) conditions up to 90 days. During storage study of candy TSS, titrable acidity, reducing sugar, non- reducing sugar and total sugar were increased whereas moisture content, pH, and organoleptic quality was slightly decreased. In cost-benefit ratio, all the treatments were profitable whereas highest cost benefit ratio 1:2 in T1 (Dragon fruit + 55% sugar) followed by 1:1.99 T2 (Dragon fruit + 60% sugar) and minimum 1: 1.93 in T8 (Dragon fruit + 90% sugar).