PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND SENSORIAL OF JUICE FROM MIXTURES OF PERSIMMON WITH PRICKLY PEAR FRUITS

The persimmon and prickly pear fruits are packed with bioactive components that are for good health, such as fiber, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. Therefore, the present study carried out on different fruit juice blends were prepared as persimmon juice with prickly pear juice in 75: 25; 50:50 and 75:25 ratios to improve its quality and flavor. These juice blends were packaged in 250 ml. colorless glass bottles and tested for physico-chemical, minerals, vitamin C and sensory evaluation. The chemical composition of juice prepared from Persimmon and prickly pear at different storage periods indicated that these blends were chemically stable during three months of storage in the refrigerator; this meant the high shelf life of these functional juices, while, the ascorbic acid content decreased gradually. Furthermore, no heavy metals like lead, cobalt, or cadmium were found in the juices. Overall, the sensory evaluation showed that the different juice blends had varying levels of acceptability.