Alternation of volatile profiles in the heat‐sterilized cloudy muskmelon juice as affected by pectin fractions

Background

Flavor is considered as a key quality attribute of fruit juice affecting the consumer's acceptance. During processing, the flavor loss of cloudy juice always occurs due to the variations of juice cloud particles. Pectin, a major component of cloud particles, plays an important role in cloud stability. In this work, we focused on the effects of variation of three pectin fractions caused by gentle centrifugation and clarification on the physicochemical properties, volatile content, and sensory profile of heat‐sterilized muskmelon cloudy juice.

Results

Centrifugation treatment reduced the total soluble solids and viscosity of cloudy juice and increased the cloud stability. With centrifugation increased, the contents of most monosaccharides in three pectin fractions were reduced. Most aroma‐active aldehydes and alcohols, such as (2E,6Z)‐nonadienal, 1‐octen‐3‐ol, (E)‐non‐2‐enal, after gentle centrifugation and clarification, were maintained, but most esters were decreased. The volatile compositions were highly related to the three pectin fractions. The addition of chelator‐soluble pectin and sodium carbonate‐soluble pectin could decrease the formation of dimethyl trisulfide and dimethyl disulfide in clarified juice, thereby improving the sensory profile.

Conclusion

The results suggested that the endogenous chelator‐soluble pectin and sodium carbonate‐soluble pectin can be used in heat‐sterilized fruit juice to improve flavor quality, with an emphasis on a significant reduction in volatile sulfur compounds.

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