Juice bitterness, control

In the extraction of citms juices it is desirable to have as gende an extraction pressure as possible. There should be minimal contact time between juice and pulp to reduce the amount of bitter substances expressed from the peel into the juice. The amount of suspended soHds in citms juice is controlled in a subsequent separation in a finisher. A screw action is used to force the juice through a perforated screen and separate the larger pulp particles from the juice. The oil level in the juice is adjusted by vaporizing under a vacuum (10). The separated pulp is washed and finished several times to produce a solution which is then either added back to the juice to increase juice yield, or concentrated to produce pulp wash soHds, also called water extract of orange soHds, which can be used as a cloudy beverage base. 

Control of Juice Bitterness. A number of advances have been reported in this field since it was last reviewed (3). A commercial application of the cellulose acetate adsorption technique for the removal of limonin from citrus juices was undertaken (49). New sorbent gel forms of cellulose esters for adsorption of limonin were developed (50). Knowledge was gained that limonoids are biosynthesized in citrus leaves and translocated to the fruit (12) and that specific bioregulators can inhibit accumulation of XIV in citrus leaves (15). Additional studies were carried out on the use of neodiosmin to suppress limonin and other types of bitterness (30,51). The influence of extractor and finisher pressures on the level of limonin and naringin in grapefruit juice was reported (34). Also, further studies were conducted on the microbial sources and properties of limonoate dehydrogenase (52), the enzyme that converts XIV to XV and can be used to prevent limonin from forming in freshly expressed citrus juices (53). 

The quality of extracted citrus juices depends on enzyme reactions that occur not only in the fruit during the development period, but also in the juice during processing. When juice is extracted from citrus fruit, enzymes are released from their normal restraint in the cell. Several of these enzymes catalyze reactions that adversely affect taste and appearance of the juice. Unless the reactions are controlled, the juice products will not meet the standards of quality set up by the USDA Food Safety and Quality Service. The two reactions of commercial importance are the hydrolysis of pectin to pectic acid, which clarifies juice, and the lactonization of limonoic acid A-ring lactone to the bitter compound, limonin. Research efforts to identify and characterize the reactions, to isolate and purify the enzymes, and to develop methods to control the reactions are described in this review. 

Several TLC methods have been widely used to quantitatively estimate the flavonoids for quality control purposes rather than to detect adulteration. The potential exists, however, for testing authenticity. Naringin is an important compound in grapefruit juice, since it is largely responsible for the bitter character of the juice. Fisher et al. (121) developed a TLC procedure for naringin estimation. This was later modified by Tatum and Berry (122). Swift (123) developed a TLC-spectrophotometric assay for the neutral methoxylated flavones in orange peel. The method was subsequently expanded to the determination of these compounds in orange juice (124). 

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