Extraction and characterization of pectin from selected indigenous fruits for further commercial application in food industries

The aims of this study were to extract pectin from selected indigenous fruits, including breadfruit, papaya and santol as well as investigate the chemical and physical properties of extracted pectin to address the potential of these fruits as an alternative source of commercial pectin. Different parts of fruits were used to extract pectin under the acid condition method. Pectin yield ranged from 8.52±0.05 to 49.96±0.89% and breadfruit was the highest pectin source. The extracted pectin from breadfruit was categorized as high methoxyl pectin with the degree of esterification between 93.57±0.22 to 96.70±0.17%, which was almost 2-time higher than the commercial pectin (53.10±1.25%). The galacturonic acid contents found in the extracted pectin varied widely from 41.41±0.09 to 73.19±0.59%. The significantly highest galacturonic acid content was found in the pectin extracted from the peel of breadfruit, which strongly indicated that pectin extracted from the peel of breadfruit was good quality. The FT-IR spectra also confirmed that the pectin obtained in this study was overall similar to the commercial pectin. Therefore, the breadfruit peel was highly recommended as a potential alternative source of pectin