International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition

Authors
K Shravya, R Renu, Srinivas Maloo

Abstract
Psidium guajava L., popularly known as Guava belonging to the Myrtle family have been used for various health benefits in several countries. In the present investigation, the efforts have been made to analyze the nutritional and mineral content of the powder of Guava Leaves obtained by applying different drying technique viz. Tray drying, Vacuum Oven and Hot air oven drying at different temperatures 50°C, 60°C and 70°C. It was identified that the Tray drying at 60°C was the best method of drying Guava leaves to obtain a Protein rich product of 9.57% for the fresh powder and 8.85% after 120 days. Vacuum Oven method of drying at 50°C is suitable to obtain a Fiber rich product of 5.3% for the fresh powder and 5.1% after 120 days. To obtain a mineral rich product, Tray drier at 50°C showed little high content of Calcium (0.055%) and Magnesium (0.017%) when compared to other dryers. As the temperature increased from 50°C to 70°C, the Protein content deceased by ~0.27% and Fibre reduced by ~0.15%. Vacuum Oven and Tray dryer at 60⁰C was found to have highest chlorophyll content 9.14mg/L compared to other dryers and temperatures.