Use of Pre and Post Harvest Low Cost Techniques to Control/Minimize Citrus Juice Bitterness
1ICAR- Central Citrus Research Institute, Amravati Road, Nagpur- 440033, Maharashtra, India 2Dept. of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science, College of Agriculture, Nagpur (Maharashtra), India
3Dept. of Fruits and Orchard Management, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya Mohanpur Nadia (West Bengal), India 1,4 Dept. of Post Harvest Technology of Horticultural Crops
Vijaykumar T. Kore, Sima S. Tawade, Lembisana H. Devi, I. Chakraborty, “Use of Pre and Post
Harvest Low Cost Techniques to Control/Minimize Citrus Juice Bitterness”. American Research Journal of Food and
Nutrition; 1(1): 11-21.
Abstract
The processing of citrus juice industry faced formidable problems of excessive bitter taste in terms of “bitterness” and “delayed bitterness” of juice worldwide because it reduces the quality and commercial value of the product. The two main compounds which impart the bitterness in citrus fruits are naringin and limonin. Efforts have been made to reduce the accumulation of bitter principles during the development and maturing of citrus fruit through chemical sprays, agronomic practices and post-harvest treatment of fruit. Many debittering technologies have been developed based on chemical, physical and microbial processes e.g. raising pH of the juice, addition of β-cyclodextrin monomer, use of adsorbent XAD-16, suppression of bitterness by addition of sweetening agents and conversion of bitter principles to non-bitter components by the action of immobilized bacteria. Few of the above techniques viz., addition of β-cyclodextrin monomer, use of adsorbent XAD-16 and conversion of bitter principles to non-bitter components by the action of immobilized bacteria which have some limitations/drawbacks along with large cost warranted the necessity to look for innovative technique(s).
