Investigation of quality properties of carob molasses produced using microwave vacuum evaporation method

In this thesis, molasses was produced by applying microwave vacuum evaporation, open pan boiling and vacuum boiling to the must obtained by cold extraction method from the carob fruit from the Mersin region. In addition, home-made carob molasses was also obtained and examined. It was aimed to determine the pH, brix, color, titratable acidity, hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), total sugar, invert sugar, total phenolic conten and antioxidant activity of molasses produced with different applications and the results were compared for the molasses. As a result of the analyses, the total phenolic compound values of carob molasses in microwave vacuum evaporation, open pan boiling, vacuum boiling and home-made carob molasses were determined as 1038.77, 943.49, 931.82, and 1541.65 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100g respectively and HMF values were determined as 16.20, 27.54, 5.35 and 66.74 mg/kg, respectively. HMF amount of the home-made carob molasses sample was higher than the value determined in the standard due to the application of uncontrolled temperature. When the results obtained in this study were examined, it was observed that carob molasses production by microwave vacuum evaporation could be used in the production of higher quality products compared to traditional production of molasses. Key words: HMF, carob molasses, microwave vacuum evaporation, total phenolic content