<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Development and quality evaluation of beverages from Bottle Gourd, <i>Lagenaria siceraria </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">(Mol.) Standl.</span></span>

Abstract

Cucurbitaceae family is a major source of medicinal agents since ancient times. Various plant parts including fruits of this family have been established for their pharmacological potential. <i>Lagenaria siceraria </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">(Mol.) Standl. (Family-Cucurbitaceae) commonly known as <i>Lauki</i> (Hindi) and Bottle gourd (English) is a medicinal plant. It is used as medicine in India, China, Euproean countries, Brazil, etc. for its cardiotonic, general tonic and diuretic properties. The vegetable has been widely used by the cardiac patients; this property may be correlated with the presence of radical scavenging activity. The juice of bottle gourd was determined for antioxidant activity by 1, 1-Diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazl (DPPH) assay and found high in the antioxidant activity (91%). However, vegetable juices are not consumed as such but this nutritive vegetable juice was utilized after blending with lemon juice and basil leaf extract to adjust the acidity and increase the palatability. After standardization of the ratio, this blend was used for the formulation of health nectars using honey as sweetener. Honey also being rich in nutrients and medicinal properties enhanced the health benefits of the nectar.

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