Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access

Abstract

Studies on the Addition of Hydrocolloids to Tomato-Carrot Juice Blend

Akanbi Charles Taiwo and Nwaokoro Onyinyechi Gift

The study determined the optimum combination of tomato-carrot juice and hydrocolloid blend. Tomato-carrot juice and hydrocolloids (carboxymethylcellulose and xanthan gum in ratio 2:1) were mixed together in various ratios to obtain the blends using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Experimental runs were coded at levels of -1, 0 and+1 for the low, centre and high levels of the factorial points. RSM was applied to establish and exploit the relationship of response (pH, oBrix, Viscosity and Overall acceptability) to the design variables (tomato juice, carrot juice and hydrocolloids) using Box-Behnken design with seventeen treatments including five center points. PlotIT software package was used to generate four second-order polynomial equations for the responses. The measured and predicted values, significance of regression coefficient, analysis of variance, canonical analysis and contour plots for the responses were determined to check the adequacy of fit and used to obtain the optimum values for the variables. The results showed that the blend of 160 ml tomato juice, 90 ml carrot juice and 0.60 g hydrocolloid was optimized for pH; 130 ml tomato juice, 120 ml carrot juice and 0.44 g hydrocolloid for oBrix; 118 ml tomato juice, 132 ml carrot juice and 0.42 g hydrocolloid for viscosity and 131 ml tomato juice, 119 ml carrot juice and 0.60 g hydrocolloid for overall acceptability. Results further showed that the regression models were significant and had R2 values in the range of 0.838-0.997. The mathematical models for the response were considered adequate as the predicted values were close to the experimental values. The research concluded from the response surface methodology that the most acceptable quality and optimum combination of tomato-carrot juice blend was the combination of the variables designated as 160 ml tomato juice, 90 ml carrot juice and 0.60 g hydrocolloid.