Nutritional and sensory attributes of desert date (Balanites aegyptiaca) juice

Balanites aegyptiaca: “desert date” is endemic to dry land areas. The plant is commonly grown in arid regions of Africa, Middle East and southern Asia and is traditionally used for several purposes although the nutritional significance of its fruits as food is not well investigated. To assess the nutritional properties of desert date, 1.5 kg of desert date fruits were pealed, soaked in 3 L distilled water for 36 h, sieved and the filtered juice as the fresh extract (FED) a portion of which was boiled for 10 min forming the boiled extract (CED). The antioxidant properties of the desert date juice were evaluated using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-icrylhydrazyl DPPH and superoxide anion radical methods. Furthermore, the sensory evaluation and chemical composition of the desert date juice were also analyzed. Both FED and CED exhibited high antioxidant activity of 85.28 and 81.82% with DPPH and a significant superoxide anion radical concentration of 5 mg/mL. Both FED and CED contained relatively small amount of vitamin C (0.0966 and 0.0744 mg/mL). Boiling of desert date juice showed some significant effect (p < 0.05) on its chemical composition and also on its flavor. The sensory evaluation attributes differed slightly with the overall acceptability (2.97 and 2.7 respectively for FED and CED samples). Though, the juice bitterness and color were likely the most affected by heat treatment, leading into the overall acceptability difference among the samples. Desert date juice could be an important candidate for healthier and functional foods.