Study of some qualitative and organoleptic properties of enriched apple leather

The purpose of this research was to enrich apple leather with pomegranate seed oil encapsulated with chitosan-soy isolate protein particles and to further investigate the color, texture and organoleptic properties of apple leather. At first, chitosan-soy protein isolate complex particles were prepared and then they were used to stabilize pomegranate seed oil emulsions (20, 30 and 50% oil). The results of the creaming index showed that the 20% emulsion had the lowest amount of creaming index after 14 days of storage. Next, the droplet size and viscosity of the 20% emulsion were evaluated. The results showed that the size of the emulsion droplets was about 1 µm and the flow behavior of the emulsion was Newtonian. Then, the effect of pomegranate seed oil emulsion (0.2, 0.5 and 1%) on the color, texture and organoleptic properties of apple leather was investigated. The results of the sensory evaluation showed that the apple leather without emulsion had a lighter color compared to the samples with a higher percentage of emulsion. The overall acceptability of apple leather for the control and the sample with 0.2% emulsion was not significantly different, and therefore it can be said that the use of pomegranate seed oil in apple leather in the form of emulsion up to 0.2% is suitable.