Thermal and chemical treatments for enhancing the shelf-life of sugarcane juice

Abstract

Present study was carried out to enhance the shelf-life of sugarcane juice so that\rit is available on commercial scale. Sugarcane juice were subjected to heat treatment at 85°C for\r10 minutes followed by the addition of fresh lemon juice to maintain the pH of 4.2. After this the\rjuice was subjected to the following treatments: in the first treatment (T1) the juice was\rimmediately bottled, in the second treatment (T2), ascorbic acid (40 ppm), potassium sorbate\r(120 ppm) and sodium benzoate (120 ppm) were added. In the third treatment (T3) cinnamon oil\r(0.4 ml) was added.The treated juices were bottled and pasteurized in hot water at 85°C for 10\rminutes and stored under ambient conditions (30±5°C). Physico-chemical and microbiological\robservations like pH, total soluble solutes (T.S.S), colour (browning index), total plate counts,\ryeast and mould counts were taken along with sensory evaluation. The chemical preservatives\rused in T2 enhanced the shelf-life for up to 45 days. However, the pasteurized juice T1 also\rshowed acceptable sensory and microbial properties upto 20 days of storage.