Improving of pumpkin juice production technology

The pumpkin which is called Cucurbita moschata has been grown for almost 10.000 years. It is a warm-season crop which was first started to be grown in America, then is was started to be grown in Asia and European regions. Nowadays, the most production of pumpkin is in China in the World. In this research, concentrate of pumpkin juice was produced on laboratory scale by process including crashing, heating, mash enzyme treatment, pressing, pasteurization and concentration. The parameters such as heating, mash enzyme treatment, increasing the yield of the mash enzyme were determined and their effects were observed. It has been reached the result that heating and mash treatment increase the juice yield and the optimum dosage of pectinase complex and cellulose were determined as 200 mL/tone and 600 mL/tone, respectively. Pumpkin juice was obtained and analyzed for the sugar and organic acid composition, acidity, vitamin A and mineral contents. In the research, rheological properties of pumpkin juice was investigated at 10, 20, 30, 40, 45 oBx and 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 oC by rotational viscosimeter. Shear rate-shear stress and shear rate-viscosity graphics of pumpkin juice were drawn. Behavior of fluid flow was determined as pseudoplastic flow. Key Words: Pumpkin, Cucurbita moschata, concentrate production, mash enzyme treatment, rheological properties.