Quality assessment of instant Zobo drink prepared by evaporation and spray drying

In this research, Instant Zobo drink (IZD) was prepared by evaporating and spray drying into powder the triple strength Zobo Concentrate prepared from the Purple and Red sorrel calyx varieties; and both the samples (sample 414 is Red IZD) and (sample 424 is Purple IZD) were subjected to sensory evaluation using ten (10) panels of judges and data were subjected to t–test; and found that both samples of the IZD have similar sensory properties that were acceptable by the sensory panelists because the T-tabulated is 2.262, while all the T-calculated values were less than the T- tabulated value; hence, there was no significant difference between the both samples of the reconstituted instant Zobo drink (IZD), because values of T-calculated are not greater than the T-tabulated (P≥ 0.05). IZD was further subjected to functional, physicochemical and microbiological analyses. Both samples of IZD have similar properties in terms of all the conducted assessments. Also, IZD was found to be safe microbiologically for human consumption owing to the fact that both samples of the IZD recorded less than ten microbial cells counts.