Determining some chemical properties of the product marketed under the name of carob extract and comparison with carob molasses

Carob fruit is a food with a high nutritional content and a wide variety of benefits. The most common form of carob fruit in our country is consumed as molasses. Carob molasses is a basic food item with a high sugar content, obtained by thickening the must obtained by processing, extracting and clarifying the fruit in accordance with the technique of the fruit, in an open cauldron or under vacuum. Carob extract has been introduced to the market in recent years as a new product produced by cold extraction and cold press vacuuming using low temperatures. This product, which is available in the market as an alternative to carob molasses and marketed under the name of "Carob Extract", is defined by its producers as "the extract of syrup obtained by cold extraction method from carob fruit by evaporation methods at low temperatures". In this study, it was aimed to determine the HMF, sugar and total phenolic compound contents in addition to the general properties such as colour, acidity, protein amount, ash content of the product marketed under the name of "carob extract" and to compare these properties with carob molasses. Samples of carob extract and carob molasses of 12 different brands on the market were taken and the colour, total soluble solids (°Brix), pH, ash, acidity, protein amount, formol number, total phenolic compounds, HMF amount, sugar content and mineral analyses of these samples were made. As a result, it was determined that there was no significant difference (P>0.05) between the color, total soluble solids (°Brix), pH, ash, acidity, protein amount, formol number, total phenolic compound, HMF amount, sugar and mineral content of the samples belonging to these two groups.