Abstract:
Sweetmeats have gained tremendous attention among the Sri Lankan traditional foods, especially
during the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year or any occasion. This study investigated the
macro-nutrients and antioxidant potential of fourteen traditional sweetmeats (Konda kewum,
Beraliya kewum, Naran kewum, Athirasa, Mung kewum, Aasmi, Kokis, Welithalapa, Dodol, Aluwa,
Thalaguli, Habalapethi aggala, Kurahan helapa and Gotupittu) popular in Southern province of Sri
Lanka. Traditional sweetmeats recipes were standardized by using recipes collected from the
household women in Southern province. Traditional sweetmeats formulated with standardized
recipes were analyzed for major nutrients using standard analytical methods and 80% methanolic
extract of defatted sweetmeats were evaluated for antioxidant potential (AP) by Ferric Reducing
Antioxidant Potential (FRAP), ABTS radical scavenging activity and DPPH radical scavenging
assays. The results indicated that, all deep-fried sweetmeats have higher fat contents ranged from
7.9% (Aasmi) to 16.3% (Beraliya kewum). The highest protein and carbohydrate contents were
shown by Thalaguli (8.12%) and Konda kewum (64.3%) respectively. All the sweetmeats are
energy-dense (249.48-406.05 kcal/100g) while deep-fried Konda kewum had the highest. Among
the sweetmeats examined for antioxidant potential, Naran Kewum showed the significantly highest
AP (51.04±0.0015 mM TE/1g Dry Mass) by FRAP assay. Kurahan helapa showed the significantly
highest radical scavenging activity for DPPH (152.8 ±0.0245 (mM TE/1g DM) and ABTS
(1.98±0.0015 mM TE/1g DM) assays. Further, Naran Kewum showed the significantly highest
phenolic content (1462.67±0.005 µg GAE/1g DM) and flavonoid content (638.26±0.012 µg
QE/1g). The findings of this study can be exploited to aware the general community about the basic
nutritional and functional properties of Sri Lankan traditional sweetmeats.
