Abstract

The present study reports, the nutrient composition, physicochemical properties and utilization potential of Ficus racemosa stem bark as an ingredient in tea, a popular non alcoholic beverage. The bark was found to be a good source of dietary fiber, minerals, sugars and phenolic compounds. On dry basis, the total dietary fiber content was 20.5% of which major portion was contributed by insoluble dietary fiber (13.6%). Potassium was the most abundant mineral (11975 ppm) followed by chloride (7475 ppm) and calcium (1729 ppm). The bark was also a good source of other minerals and trace elements such as phosphorus and iron, zinc, magnesium, respectively. Further, the bark powder was used as an ingredient in the preparation of tea and the bark incorporated tea (nutra tea) was found to contain significantly higher amounts of phenolic compounds compared to control tea (p ≤ 0.05). Sensory analysis of the nutra tea indicated no perceptible off-taste or off-aroma and the overall quality was similar to that of control and was acceptable in terms of all sensory attributes. The results suggest that the bark could be effectively used in the preparation of tea to derive its beneficial effects particularly attributable to those of phenolics.

Key words: Ficus racemosa, Nutra tea, total phenolics, AAS, sensory analysis.