2013 Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 100-105
Mabolo fruit is from an endangered Mabolo tree in the Philippines. It is an ideal source of calcium, vitamin B, iron and protein and contains numerous phenolic compounds that provide powerful antioxidants. It is nutritious but it is underutilized as human food because of its unpleasant odor comparable to rotten cheese or cat feces and is covered with hair which is irritating to sensitive skin. Because of this, it got rotten, eaten by the birds, used as feeds to domestic animals and some were thrown as garbage. This study aimed to produce Mabolo Cake, Mabolo Boat Tart, Mabolo Fritters and Mabolo Pancake, and to determine their acceptability; to promote the nutritious products to the community; to introduce them to the entrepreneurs; and to encourage everybody to have in their snack boxes the value-added Mabolo products. This is an experimental study utilizing the five-point Hedonic scale in assessing the acceptability of the products in six sensory attributes; appearance, texture, odor, taste and overall liking. The products were assessed by twenty-five panelists. It was found out that Mabolo Cake and Boat Tart ranked first and second respectively in six sensory attributes, with a rating within the range of Like Very Much while Pancake ranked third with a descriptive rating of Like in all attributes. Fritters ranked fourth in all attributes with descriptive rating of Like in appearance and taste and Neither Like nor Dislike in Texture, Odor and Overall Liking. It can be concluded that the products are generally acceptable. Proper promotion of Mabolo products can on one hand provide useful livelihood source while in the other hand provide incentive for communities for protecting the endangered tree.
