Abstract

                                Experimental studies were conducted for the production of kinnow and carrot based RTS beverage and its quality evaluation. The quality attributes comprised of acidity, pH, optical density, TSS, ascorbic acid, total plate count and sensory quality parameters on 9- point hedonic scale. Evaluation of quality parameters were done for fresh as well as stored RTS samples at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 days of storage under different storage conditions. RTS beverage kinnow and carrot samples were packed in glass bottles. The TSS and acidity of kinnow and carrot RTS beverage increased with increase in the level of kinnow juice ratio at different storage condition and the optical density increased with increase in the level of carrot juice ratio. The pH decreased with increase in the level of carrot juice and pH values of the samples composition 8020, 7030 and 6040 after 90 days of storage were observed as 1.88, 1.95 and 2.00, respectively at refrigerated condition. The total plate count (TPC) of the RTS samples of different kinnow and carrot juice ratio of 8020, 7030 and 6040 were observed as 1.041×105 cfu/ml, 1.043×105 cfu/ml and 1.044×105 cfu/ml at refrigerated temperature. The microbial growth increased during storage period irrespective of carrot juice ratio at different storage conditions. The minimum ascorbic acid level of the sample of juice ratio (kinnow carrot) 8020, 7030 and 6040 after 90 days of storage were observed as 1.90, 1.67 and 1.50, respectively at refrigerated condition. The higher score of overall acceptability was 7.92 for the fresh samples and the minimum score awarded for overall acceptability was 6.22 for the RTS sample, kinnow and carrot juice ratio 8020 at refrigerated condition. However, the overall acceptability of beverage decreased with increase in storage period. It was concluded that refrigerated storage method was found to be superior over other methods of storage of kinnow and carrot based RTS beverage followed by BOD incubator and room temperature conditions.

Key words : Kinnow, Carrot, RTS, Beverage, Juice, Blending, Physico-chemical and Sensory quality