Abstract:
Ice cream is a frozen dessert made from dairy products, such as cream or milk,
combined with sugar, flavorings, and other ingredients. Coconut milk has nutritional
benefits and is a superior source of several components. Soursop (Annona muricata) is
an underutilized fruit crop in some countries like Sri Lanka. This study aimed to
develop coconut milk-based ice cream incorporating soursop fruit puree, an innovative
approach aiming to provide a lactose-free alternative with potential health benefits from
soursop. This study was carried out on coconut milk-based ice cream with varying
levels of soursop fruit puree to enhance its nutritional and sensory attributes" Soursop
puree was added at five different levels 10 % (Tr), 20 Yo (Tz),30 Yo (Tz),40 Yo (T+), and
50 % (Ts). The final ice cream products werc analyzed for nutritional qualities including
moisture, ash, fibre, protein, fat, pH, and total soluble solids (TSS), overrun, meltability
rate the ice cream was also evaluated for organoleptic charaiteristics such as colour,
texture, flavour, taste, mouthfeel, overall acceptability, the compositional analysis
revealed that while the proportion of soursop puree increased from 10 to 50 o/o, the
moisture (60.33 to 69.67 %o), ash (0.45 to 0.73 yo), fftre (2.79 to 4.26 %), protein (4.01
to 4.81 o/o), fat (8.97 to 9.31 yo), total soluble solids (47 .73 to 52.56 %o), and meltability
rate (1.67 to 3.93 Yo) were significantly (p<0.05) increased among the treatments.
Conversely, pH and oveffun were decreased significantly (p<0.05) from 7.23 to 6.90
and 7 5 .67 to 6 I .00 7o respectively. The sensory assessment demonstrated that there was
significant difference (p<0.05) among the treatments. The formulation containing40o/o
soursop puree (T+) achieving the highest acceptability scores in terms of colour, texture,
flavour, taste, mouthfeel, and overall acceptability. The study concluded that the T+
formulation, with 40 %o soursop puree, offers the best balance of nutritional and sensory
qualities, making it a promising option for coconut milk-based ice cream production.
