Investigations into the stability of anthocyanins in model solutions and blackcurrant juices produced with various dejuicing technologies

Abstract

Blackcurrant juices were produced with an oxygen-excluding spiral filter press and two conventional pressing systems exerting common oxygen exposure at pilot plant scale (200 kg) in technological duplicate in two subsequent years (n = 4). In contrast to findings on previously studied fruits, contents of total and individual anthocyanins were not significantly higher after spiral filter (1636–1872 mg/L) than after conventional pressing (1529–2083 mg/L). During storage for 52 weeks at 4, 20 and 37 °C, anthocyanin levels depended strongly on storage temperature, but not on the used pressing system (conventional vs. oxygen-reduced). Other juice quality parameters like ascorbic acid behaved likewise. Furthermore, a D-optimal design of experiments was used to study the influence and interactions of the factors oxygen, ascorbic acid, sugar and pH value on anthocyanin levels during a heat treatment in a model solution made with preparatively isolated blackcurrant anthocyanins. In agreement with our production trials at pilot plant scale, oxygen levels were only marginally important for the rate of anthocyanin degradation, but the influence of sugar content, ascorbic acid content and pH value was highly relevant as discussed in this report.