Determination of Ascorbic Acid in Ten Selected Ripe Ad Unripe Fruit (orange Mango Pineapple Guava Watermelon Banana Tomato Lemon Plantain Red Pepper)

The present study focuses on the determination of Ascorbic Acid content often (10) locally
grown fruits (orange, mango, pineapple, guava, watermelon, banana, tomatoes, lemon,
plantain and pepper). Titrimetric method was adopted to determine the ascorbic acid
content of the various fruits. Results obtained from this study shows that the ascorbic acid
content of orange, mango. pineapple, guava, watermelon, banana. tomatoes, lemon,
plantain and pepper were 48.78±0.76, 50.38±0.70,4981±111,46.83±0.38, 50:87±0.83,
45.80±0.36, 44.95±1.19, 47.36±0.49, 52.21±0.58 and 48.13±0.15 mg/L respectively for the
ripe fruits while the corresponding values for the unripe fruits were 46.29±0.58,
45.10±0.57, 45.69±0.57, 43.32±0.57, 45.34±0.62, 42.60±0.88, 42.32±0.41, 46.69÷0.45,
39.62±0.52 and 45.98±1.24 mg/L respectively, of all the fruits analyzed, the ripe fruits
demonstrated higher ascorbic acid content compared to the unripe fruits. On the whole,
ripe watermelon showed the highest ascorbic acid content, closely followed by ripe mango
and pineapple while the lowest ascorbic acid content was recorded in unripe tomatoes.
The variations observed in the ascorbic acid content between the ripe and unripe samples
of the various fruits analyzed could be attributed to the physicochemical changes that
occurred during the repining process of the fruits. It could be recommended that people
should eat more of the ripe fruits than the unripe ones in order to meet up daily intake or
vitamin C.