Manipulation and control of brown pigmentation in juices prepared from dessert apples

Abstract Apple juice color constitutes an important sensory attribute of this widely consumed product. Development of the color of a finished juice is a complex chemical process dependent on a variety of processing conditions. The experiments reported employed controlled conditions of polyphenoloxidase mediated oxidation, both on and off the mash, to demonstrate that final juice color could be effectively manipulated through this processing step. Four dessert apples (cv McIntosh, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and Spartan) were studied. Within this group of dessert apples, cultivar based differences were noted for color (A 420 ) and phenol content of juices subjected to induced oxidization over a period of time up to 90 min. It was found that oxidation on the mash produced a lighter juice than when the oxidation took place in the juice. Results indicated that careful control of mash oxidation (i.e., phenol oxidation) will allow a juice to be processed to a finished color within a specified range.