Ascorbic Acid Retention in Pineapple Products

The results of the situdies conducted on the effect of processing operations and storage temperature on ascorbic acid content of, some commercially important pineapple products are presented. The ascorbic acid content of three varieties of pineapple (grown in South India), namely, Kew, Giant Kew and Mauritius varied from 14.0 to 16.6, 6.1 to 10.2 and 19.3 to 24.6 mg./l00 g of juice. The percent ascorbic acid retention during processing of sweetened and unsweetened, canned, bottled and sulphited pineapple juice and canned pineapple slices ranged from 91.2 to 96.5%, while in sulphited samples, the comparative figures wese 96.3 to 93.2% r spectively. The storage studies conducted on these juices and squash over a period of about 12 months revealed that the ascorbic acid retention was of the order of 80 to 85% at room temperature (21–30°C) while at 37°C it ranged from 38.1 to 47.2% only. In canned pineapples for the same period of storage at room temperature, the retention was 72.3%.

Canned and sulphited juices retained greater amount of ascorbic acid than the comparative lots of bottled (pasteurized) juice. Sweetening of juice at 5% level did not materially help in ascorbic acid retention. In general, there was good retention of ascorbic acid in the products stored at room temperature.