Scope and Limitation of the Study

This research about Squash and Malunggay as bread stuff aims to

determine the acceptability of these products as a spread. Students will be covered
as part of respondents for Sensory evaluation techniques. The product will be sold
through direct selling and orders are also accepted from the customer within in Sta.
Mesa, Manila City from those who are willing to purchase our product.

Review of Related Literature

Vegetable powders are used to tuck more nutrition and flavor into the things
people cook (Willson, n.d.). These days some vegetables and other fruits mostly
spices like tomato, chili, pepper, and onion, are made into powder for easy use.
Vegetable powder can be added to juices or as a base for soups to make it more
nutritious (Sundstrom, 2011). It provides value-added thickening for soups (Willson,
n.d.). For example, squash.

Squash (Cucurbita spp.), also known as calabaza or pumpkin, from the

Cucurbitaceae family, is a genus of gourd plants grown for their fruit. It is related to the
family of melons and cucumbers (OBrien, 2009). It is a cool-to-moderate-weather root
vegetable with long, lacy leaves reaching about 0.3m (1ft) in height (Grolier
Encyclopedia of Knowledge, 2002). It is a very good source of vitamins A and C,
calcium and iron. It has very low calories (Nutritional Value of Squash | Healthy Living
Tips, 2009). It is also rich in fiber, which lowers rates heart diseases, and protects from
colon cancer by working to get rid the body of harmful substances (OBrien, 2009). Due

to its healthy benefits, the future researchers are determined to produce squash powder
out of raw squash for easy use. To make this powder last longer, preservatives are
added,

Preservatives are substances used or added to products to preserve or avoid

spoiling of food. They are also called additives. There are available chemical
preservatives, but natural preservatives are commonly used. Common food
preservatives are salt, sugar and vinegar. The researchers will be using salt and sugar
as their food preservatives.

Salt has been used as a natural food preservative since ancient times, especially
for meat. Salted meat can last for many years. The phenomenon behind adding salt as
a preservative is that it dehydrates microbes through the process of osmosis. Thus, it
inhibits the bacteria that cause food spoilage. Salt also protects food from yeasts and
molds. It increases the shelf-life of various food stuffs.

Sugar, an organic compound in the form of carbohydrate, has been used as a

natural food preservative in many of the food items. Sugar sweetens the food product
and inhibits the growth of microorganisms through the phenomenon of osmosis. Foods
can be stored either in sugar syrup or in crystallized form, where the food to be stored is
cooked in sugar till the point of crystallization. Sugar acts by drawing out water from the
bacteria and other microorganisms, which either kills the bacteria or inhibits their
growth.

Preserving food is accomplished by controlling and where possible the agents of

food spoilage are destroyed, in other words, it is a method of storing raw and cooked
food for a very long time by using food preservatives. Since the ancient times, people
have been using a number of natural products to preserve their foods. But before using
the advent of preservatives, food was commonly stored inside clay jars to avoid food
spoilage. The earliest preservative that was used was salt, during the Middle Ages.

Many processes designed to preserve food will involve a number of food

preservation methods. Preserving fruit, by turning it into jam, for example, involves
boiling (to reduce the fruits moisture content and to kill the bacteria, yeasts.atc.),
sugaring (to prevent their re-growth; examples are fruit juices and condensed milk) and
sealing with an airtight jar (to prevent recontamination). (Food Preservation, n.d.)

Other ways include freezing. Foods which spoil readily are frozen for
transportation, and must be kept packed in ice until used (examples: fish and poultry).
Smoking is the method where some foods after being salted are hung in a closed room
for several hours, where hickory wood is allowed to smother. Examples are ham, beef,
and fish. Preserving by oil, examples; sardines, anchovies, etc; Pickling, exclusion of
air, canning, drying and vacuum treatment are also ways to preserve food. (Farmer,
1918)

A study was conducted on pulverizing a vegetable for convenience. Jubelags

(2008) study entitled Carrot (Daucus Carota) Powder for Various Food Preparation,
aimed to make carrots in powdered form for convenience in cooking and the younger
ones who does not like eating it, not to notice that they are already taking in carrots,
which is a very healthy vegetable. The researcher has produced the carrot powder with
table sugar as its preservative, but was not able to make the carrot powder using table
salt. It is recommended in this study to find a way for the powder not to affect the foods
taste, color and odor, and to find out the exact amount of preservative, to be added to a
given volume of the vegetables extract that is to be powdered.

Previous studies were made and used different vegetables in making into powder
form. From the study above, after producing the carrot powder, the researcher just
randomly added the powder to some available food, like ice cream, and just taste to see
if the powder is suitable in terms of palatability. The future researchers modify some
method for various food preparations, such as baking and steaming, to see if which food
preparation is more suitable for the powder in terms of palatability.