Standardization of sweet orange and pomegranate blended rts beverage preparation and its storage

An experiment was conducted in processing laboratory in the Division of Post-Harvest Technology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangaluru from November, 2008 to June, 2009 to standardize recipe for sweet orange and pomegranate blended RTS beverage production. Blended RTS beverage was prepared with 15% juice content of sweet orange and pomagranate at varying level of juice ratios of 90: 10, 80: 20, 70: 30, 60: 40 and 50: 50 with fixed level TSS of 15° Brix and acidity of 0.3% and stored up to six months in ambient conditions. Blended beverages were evaluated for quality parameters and storage stability at different intervals of 0, 3 and 6 months after storage. Sweet orange and pomegranate were mixed at the ratio of 50: 50 with 15% juice, TSS of 15° Brix and 0.3% acidity was found to be the best in taste and overall acceptability. During storage, the TSS, titratable acidity, reducing sugars and non-enzymatic browning increased, while pH, total sugars, non-reducing sugars, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity decreased. The RTS beverage had storage stability up to six months.