الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Prickly pear fruits can be considered a fruit with a huge nutraceutical and technological properties because of its components like, phenolic compounds, vitamins, minerals, sugars, fibers and its antioxidant capacity. So, all the world have been paying attention to such a fruit with all these benefits. The fruits also had a wide variance in colour that differ from white, green, yellow, orange, red and purple colour. This variation make this fruit an important material for food processing . The chemical analysis of the different portions of the prickly pear fruit approved that these different portions have a great neutraceutical and functional importance. The peel of the prickly pear fruits found to have the highest amount of total phenolic compounds and calcium compared to the seeds and the pulp. While, the seeds had a considerable amount of oil with a neutraceutical and medicinal usage as a result to its content of the unsaturated fatty acids specially polyunsaturated fatty acids, and for the prickly pear fruit pulp it was found to have a high amount of total sugars specially reducing sugars and it contained a considerable amount of vitamin C and A.
For all these neutraceutical compounds, prickly pear fruits are sensitive to spoilage due to the microbiological effect specially yeasts and moulds. So, when prickly pear fruits were stored at refrigerated conditions they showed a very short storage period that did not exceed 19 days. So, further analysis could be carried out to find a solution for such an obstacle t help in longing the shelf life for these fruits that can be used along the year round.
Hurdle technology technique is a technique that is used in preserving food by using many obstacles for food spoilage so that it can maintain shelf stability for the product without losing its sensorial and quality properties, and these hurdles can be divided into three parts , chemical, physical and microbial. So, the combination of these obstacles can be an effective way t elongate the shelf life of foods preserved by this technique without losing its neutraceutical, sensorial and quality parameters.
16 formulations from prickly pear nectars were manufactured using the hurdle technology technique by blending prickly pear / mango and prickly pear/orange fruit juices by different portions of sugar and water. Their chemical and sensorial properties were evaluated and the most sensory accepted formulations were stored at refrigerated conditions. During storage chemical, sensorial and microbial analysis were occurred. These analysis showed that during the first four months of storage no variations have been noticed in chemical and sensory parameters. While, after six months of storage some noticed differences have been occurred in the chemical and sensory parameters but the nectars remained acceptable. On the other hand, no variances have been found in the microbiological status of these nectars during six months of storage, which means that any changes in the chemical or sensory parameters were not because of microbial activity.
Total phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of the prickly pear /mango and the prickly pear /orange nectars have been evaluated and compared to other common fruit juice nectars. The results of these analysis showed that these blended nectars had a high amount of total phenolic compounds and a high antioxidant capacity more than those found in some of the compared fruit juice nectars.