Potential Application of Spices and Pineapple as Healthy Beverages

Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate pineapple-spice beverages for their potential health benefits and assess their consumer acceptance. Fortifying fruit beverages with spices can enhance their nutritional and health benefits, making them effective carriers for delivering phytochemicals and other nutrients. Methodology: Spices extracts from cinnamon bark, star anise, coriander, cloves, white cumin, and cumin were incorporated into pineapple beverages to enhance their antioxidant, vitamin, and mineral content. Specifically, two selected samples, namely pineapple-spice beverages and spice beverage (as a control), were chosen based on the optimization of beverage formulation parameters previously conducted. Results: The formulation deemed most favourable through sensory evaluation comprised 25% pineapple juice combined with spice extracts and underwent further physicochemical analyses and shelf life studies. The shelf life of both beverages demonstrated 12 months of storage stability at ambient temperature, in terms of sensory evaluation, microbiological, and physical analyses. In the 12th month, the sensory evaluation panel for spice beverages and pineapple spice beverages gave scores above 6 for all attributes, which include colour, odour, viscosity, taste, sweetness, sourness, and overall acceptability of the beverages. The highest scores in panellist evaluations were attributed to the pineapple spice beverages. In antioxidant studies, the highest values of DPPH, FRAP value and total phenolic content were observed in samples of pineapple spice beverages. Pineapple-spice beverages (25%) exhibited significant levels of vitamin A, C, B3, B5, B7, B12, and zinc. Colour analysis for the L* value showed a slight increase, while the a* value showed a slight decrease throughout the storage period for both types of beverages. Additionally, pH and brix values were recorded during the storage period of the beverage samples. Conclusion: Thus, spices and pineapple are an excellent potential for creating nutritious and healthy beverages.