Formulation and Optimization of Chia-based Strawberry Jam: A Functional Food Innovation

The growing demand from consumers for nutrient-dense and health-promoting choices has drawn significant attention to the creation of value-added food items. In this study, we concentrated on the formulation and organoleptic assessment of strawberry jam with chia seeds added for value. In response to increasing consumer demand for nutritious and value-added food products, incorporating chia seeds into traditional jam formulations presents an opportunity to enhance nutritional content while maintaining sensory appeal. The research involves the formulation of strawberry jam recipes with varying concentrations of chia seeds to optimize both nutritional benefits and sensory attributes. Strawberries are rich in vitamin C and other antioxidants, which helps to reduce the risk of serious health conditions like cancer, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Chia seeds are well known for having a lot of nutrients, including fibre, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids. The objective of the study includes the develepoment of strawberry jam treated with chia seeds as an innovative functional food product and checking the consumer acceptability of the developed product. This study was aimed to develop strawberry jam by incorporating chia seed (1 & 3%). The control and the treated jam samples were also evaluated sensorily on a composite scale. The method of the study involves preparation of the strawberry chia seed jam and standardisation of the ingredients accordingly. Thus two treatments were developed with T1 (1%) and T2 (3%) of chia seeds. The next technique of the study after preparation was focused on sensory evaluation of the developed product evaluated by semitrained panellists by composite scale. Outcome of the study were strawberry chia seed jam were succesfully prepared in two ratios of T1 (3%) and T2 (3%), consumer acceptability was also cconducted. A concentration of 1% and 3% chia seeds appears to be optimal, providing a balance between nutritional enhancement and sensory appeal. Arithmetic mean of the score of semitrained pannelists were taken and plotted a graph based on the attributes taken in consideration. Treatment T2 (3%) of chia seed obtained highet scores in all attributes including colour (19 of 20), consistency (18.45 of 20), flavour (38.15 of 40), absence of defects (18.5 of 20), total scores (93.1 of 100) compared to treatment T1 (1%). The jam with 3% of chia seed concentration was found to be more liked by the panellists.