Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center. Giza, Egypt
Abstract
This study was performed to assess the effect of pasteurization, homogenization, dearation, head space volume and storage at ambient temperature on dissolved oxygen, ascorbic acid, degree of discoloration and organoleptic properties of glass bottled apricot nectar. The obtained data ascertained that homogenization and large volume of head spaces increased the initially dissolved oxygen content followed by a gradual decrement after one month of storage. These treatments caused also high losses of ascorbic acid during storage, besides the degree of discoloration increased and the organoleptic properties were greatly affectted. On the other hand, apricot nectar in bottles having 5% head space and which formerly dearated or homogenized followed by dearation gave the least dissolved oxygen rate and degree of discoloration. Moreover, this nectar had the highest retention of ascorbic acid as well as preferable organoleptic properties.