Off-flavor removal from thermal-treated watermelon juice by adsorbent treatment with β-cyclodextrin, xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose sodium, and sugar/acid

Abstract

One of the most popular summer fruits is the watermelon, not only for its health benefits but also because of its high water content making it very refreshing. Watermelon therefore, is widely marketed in many forms. Industrial processing of the watermelon juice however, by thermal treatment develops an off-flavor which is not accepted by the consumers. In this study, XG, β-CD, CMC-Na, and SAR were selected to evaluate the removal effect to the off-flavor compounds in thermal treated watermelon juice. β-CD was found to be the most significant factor for increasing sensory score of TW, followed by the CMC-Na and SAR. T&β-CD reduced the concentration of decanal, octanol, (E)-2-octenol, and (E)-2-decenal by 50.82%, 22.81%, 36.43%, and 28.19%, respectively (p < 0.05). The intensity changes of SVP indicated the interaction of β-CD and octanol or (E)-2-decenal with the non-covalent bond by FT-IR. The peaks of octanol, (E)-2-decenal, and their β-CD chathrate in 13C NMR spectrogram suggested the combination of β-CD and these two volatile compounds. The study concluded that β-CD could remove the off-flavor compounds from heat treated watermelon juice effectively.