Healthful diets containing functional materials or neutraceutical are currently having impact on food and beverage industries. Several efforts have been made to search for new sources with beneficial health effects. The cost implication of what is available prompt us to search for new things, which can easily be attained by using various natural plants that is available around us. Storage life of the plant depends on variety, species and pre-harvest condition. The quality of materials majorly depends on temperature and the water content of the materials during storage.
Pawpaw
Pawpaw(carica papaya) belong to a family of caricaceae. It is a perennial plant with a rapid growth rate and can produce fruit for more than 10 year, it has a complicated means of reproduction. The plant may be male, hermaphrodite or female. The male trees are not common around but sometimes occur. Hermaphrodite trees (flowers with male and female parts)are mostly common around us capable of producing a pear shape fruit. The plant is self pollinated. It is cultivated for its fruits and favoured by people of the tropics as ingredients to preserve or cooked in various ways. The juice of pawpaw makes a popular beverage even its young leaves, shoots and fruits can be cooked and serve as vegetable. Traditionally, the extract from carica papaya can be used for the treatment and prevention of selected human diseases such as cancer ,fever and anti-inflammatory .e.t.c
Ripening
Ripening of fruits is the last stage of the maturation when the fruit changes colour, softens and develop the flavour, texture and aroma that constitutes optimum eating quality . At times when you see a ripe fruit without all these quality, it means that the fruit has be contaminated. Ripening of fruits or other materials involves breaking down of polysaccharide such as starch into small monosaccharaide (glucose) through hydrolysis using enzyme as catalyst. Ripening of carica papaya fruit is more necessary for it to be more nutritious, palatable, edible and softening for consumption. The stage of ripening determines the sweetness of the fruit because it increase the its sugar content, while the unripe fruits are green , hard, sour and odourless. The sour taste in the unripe fruit is telling how acidic they are, that is why taking unripe fruit may lead to stomach disorder because of high level acid in the fruit.
Summary
people should take a natural riped fruit because it will have breakdown the polysaccharide to monosaccharaide and the level of acid will have reduced drastically, so it provide all the necessary nutrients to the body. Artificial ripening has been linked to several hazardous effects such as cancer and food poisoning.
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