Development of fruit and vegetable purees using honey and rice for infant nutrition

Nutrition is one of the most important factors that ensure normal child growth and development. In Kyrgyzstan there are about 160,298 children younger than 1 years of age, for whom special baby food is needed and this need is provided only by expensive imported products. The purpose of the study is to develop recipes and technology of new fruit and vegetable purees for baby food using local raw materials; determination of the basic physicochemical parameters of a new product. As objects of research were selected apple, pear, pumpkin, potatoes. Rheological properties were obtained by shear rate scan tests in a rotational rheometer, with geometry of concentric cylinders in temperatures of 25, 35, 45°C. The thixotropy analysis was made through the calculation of the difference between the areas under up and down cycles' flow curves. In order to describe the rheological behavior of beverage, the flow curves were modeled using equations such as Herschel-Bulkley, Casson, and Ostwald-De-Waele. Based on the values of correlation coefficients and variance of the estimated parameters, Ostwald-De-Waele model was chosen for fitting of experimental data. A special feature of new recipes is the use of uzgen rice (local variety of rice) flour and honey. These ingredients give purees the texture and consitency required for children. Developed canned food due to the balanced content of carbohydrates and organic acids have good sensory properties. The content of carotenoids (pro vitamin A) is 0.4 mg%, which provides a daily rate. All designed purees are recommended as a breakfast purees for babies from 6 to 24 months.