Adding Functional Foods to Fermented Snake Melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) to Increase Consumption and Reduce Crop Loss

Abstract

Snake melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) is a member of the melon family. It is a seasonal fruit that is high in water and low in calories, fat, and cholesterol. It is a high-yielding crop that has a short shelf-life, which results in the loss of a high percentage of the annual yield. In order to reduce the percentage of lost crop, we proposed several new recipes for making pickled snake melon by adding functional foods to enhance the flavor and nutritional values of the pickled snake melon product while evaluating consumer acceptance using sensory evaluation. The different samples of snake melon pickles were analyzed for their sensory attributes (color, odor, texture, taste, saltiness, sourness, and overall acceptability) using a Likert scale ranging from 1 “least liked” to 5 “most liked”. While none of the tested recipes were preferred over the control, four of the new recipes were similar to the control in overall acceptability indicating a clear potential for incorporating functional foods to increase diversification of snake melon pickles and in essence increase the potential for snake melon consumption while reducing crop loss.