UTILIZATION OF DRIED MORUS ALBA LEAVES FOR VALUE ADDED PRODUCT

White Mulberry (Morus alba) belongs to the family Moraceae. Its leaves contain various nutrients (?-carotene, ascorbic acid, calcium and dietary fibre) as well as phytochemicals which have various health benefits. The aim of the study was to develop and standardize dehydrated mulberry leaves powder based tomato soup and to assess its organoleptic as well as nutritional quality of product. Mulberry leaves were weighed, washed with water and then dried by Hot air oven for the development of value added products namely Tomato soup. Along with control (T0), four variations T1, T2, T3 and T4 were prepared which contains mulberry leaves at 0.8%, 1.0%. 1.2%, 1.4% respectively. The sensory attributes of the product was analysed organoleptically by a mixed panel of trained and Semi-trained judges by using 9 point hedonic rating score card. After scoring the average score were calculated for each product. Nutritive value of most acceptable tomato soup prepared by using mulberry leaves was calculated. Appropriate statistical methods were used for data analysis. Among all the treatments average sensory score significantly (P<0.05) high in T3, which contains 1.2% of dried mulberry leaves. It can be concluded that fresh mulberry leaves were dried by hot air oven drying method provides a concentrated form of nutrients. Addition of mulberry leaves upsurge the nutrient content of product.