Development of Functional Herbal Pomegranate Aqualete Enriched with Coffea arabica and Cymbopogon citratus

Coffea arabica (Green coffee bean) and Cymbopogon citratus (Lemongrass) are well- known medicinal herb found in India and possess bioactive components which attribute to a strong antioxidant activity which could modulate many diseases. In view of the above aspects the present work comprised to determine antioxidant potential of developed pomegranate aqualetes incorporated with Coffea arabica and Cymbopogon citratus singly and their equi-proportioned mixture. The pomegranate aqualete of 5% incorporation enriched with Cymbopogon citratus was found to be insignificant at P≤ 0.05 level when compared with standard aqualete. Therefore, it was acceptable and comparable to standard aqualete in terms of all sensory attributes. In antioxidant activity it was shown that pomegranate aqualete with Coffea arabica extract had higher TPC (16.43±0.34 mgGAE/g) and TFC (8.8±0.04 mgQE/g) whereas tannins content (13.89±0.06 g/100 g) was higher in Cymbopogon citrates extract. DPPH % free radical scavenging activity was high in equi-proportioned mixture (IC50=18 μg/mL) which was followed by Coffea arabica (IC50= 24 μg/mL) and Cymbopogon citratus aqueous extract (IC50=40 μg/mL) when compared to standard ascorbic acid. It is concluded that extracts of the above herbs can be used as a valuable ingredient for the production of herbal beverage with powerful antioxidant properties.