Juice Blends—A Way of Utilization of Under-Utilized Fruits, Vegetables, and Spices: A Review

Abstract

The post-harvest shelf life of maximum of fruits and vegetables is very limited due to their perishable nature. In India more then 20-25 percent of fruits and vegetables are spoiled before utilization. Despite being the world's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, in India only 1.5 percent of the total fruits and vegetables produced are processed. Maximum amounts of fruit and vegetable juices turn bitter after extraction due to conversion of chemical compounds. In spite of being under utilized, the utilization of highly nutritive fruits and vegetables is very limited due to high acidity, astringency, bitterness, and some other factors. While improving flavor, palatability, and nutritive and medicinal value of various fruit juices such as aonla, mango, papaya, pineapple, citrus, ber, pear, apple, watermelon, and vegetables including bottle gourd, carrot, beet root, bitter gourd, medicinal plants like aloe vera and spices can also be used for juice blending. All these natural products are valued very highly for their refreshing juice, nutritional value, pleasant flavor, and medicinal properties. Fruits and vegetables are also a rich source of sugars, vitamins, and minerals. However, some fruits and vegetables have an off flavor and bitterness although they are an excellent source of vitamins, enzymes, and minerals. Therefore, blending of two or more fruit and vegetable juices with spices extract for the preparation of nutritive ready-to-serve (RTS), beverages is thought to be a convenient and economic alternative for utilization of these fruits and vegetables. Moreover, one could think of a new product development through blending in the form of a natural health drink, which may also serve as an appetizer. The present review focuses on the blending of fruits, under-utilized fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants, and spices in appropriate proportions for the preparation of natural fruit and vegetable based nutritive beverages.

Studies on Therapeutic Value of Naturally Flavored Papaya-Mango Blended Ready-To-Serve (RTS) Beverage

“…The therapeutic RTS beverage scored good (>8) in sensory evaluation after 120 days of storage period. Organoleptic quality like color, flavor and nutritive value of fruit products generally reduces with the increase in storage period (Bhardwaj and Shruti, 2011). The results were in agreement with data reported by Boghani et al, (2013) who developed RTS beverage using 10% Aloe Vera and 90% papaya blends with good (8.0) overall quality during storage period of six months.…”

Effect of Storage Temperature on Various Parameters of Extracted Pigment from Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) Calyces for Edible Colour

“…The pH and titratable acidity of the extracted pigment were increased and decreased respectively at ambient and refrigerated storage conditions compare to initial (T 0 ) towards 90 days of storage and both reading are inversely proportional. Increase in acidity was may be due to release of organic acids from the extractants and a corresponding decrease in pH was noticed (Tasnim et al, 2010) and also due to acidic hydrolysis of polysaccharides (Bhardwaj and Pandey, 2011). Similar results were obtained by Kilima et al, (2014) in an experiment on influence of storage temperature and time on the physicochemical and bioactive properties of roselle-fruit juice blends.…”

Effect of Combining Ultrasound and Mild Heat Treatment on Physicochemical, Nutritional Quality and Microbiological Properties of Pineapple Juice

“…In general, the acidity and the hydrogen ion concentration (indirectly the pH) in any fruit product vary due to different types of biochemical reactions such as hydrolysis, oxidation, fermentation, and decomposition. Increased acidity and lowest TSS in control sample might be due to spoilage and fermentation, resulted to the conversion of sugar to acids, carbon dioxide or alcohol [28]. The major sugar in pineapple juice was sucrose (86%) and decreased during the fermentation.…”