The nutritional and compositional changes (via adulteration screenings) in California navel orange juice during commercial debittering using a hydrophilic absorbent were studied. Both reconstituted and freshly extracted juices were analyzed. There were significant reductions in limonin, citrus oils and pulp. Citrus oils and pulp can be replenished without violation of federal standards of identity. Increases in mineral content resulted from the use of mineral-laden water for reconstituting concentrates before treatment and not from the use of the absorbent.
Excessive bitterness in citrus juices has been extensively studied in the past due to a reduction in juice quality. In the late 1970’s, Australia began to commercially debitter citrus juices using cellulose acetate beads. However, due to operational problems, this plant was shutdown. Continued research has led to the first commercial debittering installation in the United States. Using a proprietary styrene/divinylbenzene hydrophylic adsorbent, a citrus debittering system was started in 1988 to debitter navel orange juice. The automatic citrus debittering system was designed for continuous operation at an operator’s selectable flow rate from between 20 to 55 gallons per minute. The determination of the economics, compositional analysis and taste of the treated products was the focus of this study.
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