Abstract

This study evaluated the natural preservative property and antioxidant effects of lemon on smoothies. The smoothies were prepared from blend of different ratio of fruits – A (40:30:30:0), B (39:29:29:3), C (38:28:28:6) and D (37:27:27:9) for pineapple, banana, apple and lemon respectively and stored at cool temperature (below 20 °C) for 48 h. The results showed that while FRAP (2.03 - 11.38 mg/g) and DPPH (4.67 - 5.32%) increased with increase in concentration of lemon, the reverse was observed for flavonoids (16.50 - 12.09%) and phenolic (0.15 – 0.13 mg/100g). Lemon addition also increased the vitamins C (15.93 - 55.36 mg/g) and A (477.72 - 1264.77 unit/g) contents. The samples were relatively acidic with pH range of 4.6 – 4.8 and titratable acidity range of 9.5 -19.2 g/100ml However, the results of sensory acceptability were not significantly affected by the different percentage of lemon used with respect to appearance, flavor, taste and overall acceptability of the smoothies produced from the fruit blends. Therefore, lemon juice up to the maximum 9% concentration used in this study could be used as a natural preservative for smoothies especially from the combination of pineapple, apple and banana.

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