Effect of incorporation of honey on chilled storage and sensory acceptance of probiotic Melon Manis Terengganu (Cucumis melo var inodorus cv. manis Terengganu 1) juice

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of 28 days of chilled storage (4oC) on Melon Manis Terengganu (MMT) juice, probiotic MMT juice and probiotic MMT juice with 3.9% honey. Furthermore, determination of sensory evaluation of these three juices using acceptance test was carried out as well. It was found that for all MMT juice samples with 28 days of chilled storage resulted in increased total soluble solid, decreased viscosity and no significant difference in titratable acidity. Besides, the pH of control MMT juice did not change, but the pH of both probiotic MMT juices decreased. It was found that there was no yeast and mould growth in probiotic MMT juice with 3.9% honey until the 28th-day storage. However, yeast and mould growth appeared after 21 days of chilled storage for both control MMT juice and probiotic MMT juice, with control MMT juice having the higher yeast and mould count. During chilled storage, there was no LAB count and no significant change in biomass in control MMT juice, but there was a decreasing trend for LAB count and biomass for probiotic MMT juice after 21 days of storage. However, for probiotic MMT juice with honey, LAB count did not change significantly, while its biomass was higher than probiotic MMT juice after 14 days of chilled storage. Sensory evaluation found that there was no significant difference (p<0.05) in acceptability of all MMT juice samples for sourness, overall acceptability and odour attributes. For colour attribute, probiotic MMT juice gave similar colour attribute acceptance with other samples. However, both probiotic juices gave lower acceptability scores for flavour and sweetness attributes compared to control MMT juice. This study found that the most acceptable formulation was control MMT juice, followed by MMT probiotic juice and finally MMT probiotic juice with 3.9% honey.