Development, Physicochemical, and Sensory Evaluation of Naturally Formulated Dehydrated Fruits Rolls Enriched with Sea Buckthorn and Grape Freeze-Dried Pomace Powders.

Pomaces, by-products from beverage industries, which are extremely rich in various bioactive compounds such as dietary fiber, polyphenolic compounds, carotenoids, etc., represent valuable sources of natural antioxidants. Due to their nutritional properties, innovative food products could be developed by incorporating pomace powders as potentially functional ingredients. In the present work, new dehydrated fruit-based products, known as fruit rolls or leathers, were developed from apples and bananas (2/1, w/w), with honey (2%), lemon juice (2%), and freeze-dried grape or sea buckthorn pomace powders (3%), without artificial sweeteners, preservatives, or hydrocolloids. Several physicochemical (moisture content, water activity, pH, CIE L*a*b*) and chemical (total phenolic and carotenoid contents) parameters were investigated both for pomace powders and developed fruit rolls. Moreover, the prepared fruit rolls were evaluated in terms of sensorial characteristics using a seven-point hedonic scale. The samples obtained by incorporation of freeze-dried pomace powders exhibited increased values of the total phenolic content (86.54 and 95.77 mg GAE/g d.m.) compared to the control sample (59.62 mg GAE/g d.m.). Sensory evaluation with twenty untrained panelists indicated good acceptability, with mean scores above 6.00. The addition of freeze-dried pomace powders improved the visual attributes, the appearance and color of the corresponding fruit rolls receiving slightly higher scores compared to the control. The newly developed fruit rolls with freeze-dried grape or sea buckthorn pomace powders could represent a tasty, interesting alternative for sweet snacks.