Optimization of nutritional health drink developed from Guava, Jamun and Aloe vera

Guava, jamun and Aloe vera are valued for their nutritive and medicinal properties, but their utilization as drink is limited due to certain consumer repelling factors like poor appearance and grittiness of guava juice, high astringent taste of jamun juice and bitter taste of Aloe vera juice. Therefore, present study was designed to optimize the blending of guava pulp with jamun and Aloe vera juice for developing nutritious health drink. Different formulations, where jamun juice concentration varied from 10–50 per cent with two levels of fruit part (10 and 15%) and two levels of TSS (10 and 15^oB) were tried for optimizing guava-jamun blended drink. Further, Aloe vera juice from 1 to 9.0 per cent was added to enhance the nutritive and functional value without compromising overall acceptability of the developed beverage. Out of different formulations, the drink prepared by blending guava-jamun in the ratio of 60:40 with 15 per cent fruit part (blended) and 15^oB TSS was found the best on the basis of nutritional and sensory characteristics. Herbal fortification with Aloe vera juice @ 5 per cent was optimized for improving nutritional and medicinal properties of the developed beverage. Results revealed that the Aloe vera fortified guava-jamun health drink contained higher values of ascorbic acid (33.91 mg/100g), total phenolics (36.12 mg/100g) and antioxidant potential (13.40% free radical scavenging activity) compared to control the sample (100% guava drink).