Production and Evaluation of Nutraceutical Vegetable Juice Blends

Abstract

A great interest has been recently focused on vegetable juices. So, this study was made as a trial to produce new untraditional vegetable juice blends with high balanced nutritive value. Thirteen different pasteurized vegetable juice blends were prepared. Four blends were only selected representing the most favorite ones, which were preferred by the panelists. The chosen blends were stored at 5 ±1 o C for 3 months during which, the chemical composition, antioxidants activity as well as the microbial examination were carried out. The chemical composition of all selected blends was approximately similar except for blend 11 (carrot, watermelon, pumpkin, celery and parsley) having the lowest value of total acidity (0.054%) compared to the other blends. No significant differences were detected between the total phenolic compounds of those four blends and the control (imported commercial vegetable juice). Blend (4), (tomato, carrot and celery) had the highest contents of total phenols and total flavonoids being 16.65 and 31.25 mg /100 ml, respectively. Total carotenoids of all blends ranged from 7.69 to 12.09 mg/100 ml. Addition of green leafy vegetables (celery and parsley) to blend (11) increased total chlorophyll content by more than two folds becoming greater (52.43 mg/100gm) than the other studied blends as well as the control sample. Meanwhile, ascorbic acid content ranged from 8.45 to 20.22 mg/100ml. Blend (3),(tomato, carrot, watermelon and rocket) had the highest content of ascorbic acid, meanwhile, blend (11), being free from tomato juice, had the lowest content. All selected blends had adequate minerals contents and could be considered sufficient sources of minerals to human nutrition. Also, insignificant differences in chemical composition of the selected vegetable juice blends could be detected throughout the storage period. On the other hand, the thermal treatments, blanching and pasteurization reduced the activity of microorganisms and all products maintained their original sensory properties.