Development of carbonated sweet orange RTS beverage

Attempts were made in the present investigation in order to develop a carbonated ready to serve (RTS) beverage from sweet orange juice. The matured and freshly harvested fruits of Cv. Nucellar were washed and peeled manually. The juice was extracted by using screw type juice press followed by filtration. The beverage was prepared by adjusting the juice level (10, 15, 20%) with sugar syrup (60° Brix TSS and 0.5% acidity) and then carbonated at 80 and 100 psi pressure respectively. The resultant RTS beverage was then analyzed for various physico-chemical and sensorial quality characteristics. The study revealed that the RTS beverage prepared by using the 20% sweet orange juice along with 0.3% acidity, 11.7° Brix TSS and carbonated at 100 psi pressure was found significantly superior with respect to various quality characteristics over other combinations.