Effect of thermosonication on peroxidase, pectin methylesterase activities and on bioactive compounds in custard apple juice

Abstract

Custard apple juice faces long term storage challenges such as pink discoloration and bitterness due to peroxidase activity. Therefore, inactivation of peroxidase becomes a necessity for longer shelf life of custard apple and its application in food preparations. Heat processing has certain pitfalls such as loss in nutritional contents of custard apple juice, thereby adversely affecting the sensory quality. In the present study, thermosonication of custard apple juice at a constant temperature of 30 ± 1 °C (20 kHz, 67.84 W/cm2) from 0 to 40 min has been studied with respect to peroxidase and pectin methylesterase inactivation. Effect of thermosonication has also been studied on bioactive components such as total phenolics and flavonoids along with enzyme inactivation. Complete inactivation of peroxidase and pectin methylesterase with 0% residual activity was achieved within 40 min and 50 s, respectively. Total phenolics were found to increase from 70.9 ± 1.6 to 81.7 ± 2.5 mg GAE/g. Sonication was found to have no significant effect (P > 0.05) on pH, °Brix, titratable acidity. Ascorbic acid content remained relatively unaffected during sonication. Hence, thermosonication may be employed as food processing technique where retention of bioactive components have been achieved along with safety and quality attributes.