Development and storage stability studies of functional fruit and vegetable-based drinks incorporated with polyphenols extracted from herbs and spices.

The study was designed to develop functional cucumber and pomegranate based ready-to-serve (RTS) drink as thirst quencher. To boost antioxidant activity and to add natural preservation to the drink, microwave-assisted extracts of herbs and spices; mint, lemongrass, ginger, cinnamon were incorporated either individually or collective, at an equivalent dose of 2% for comparison. In this regard, ginger extract incorporated drink maintained its storage quality owing to highest free radical scavenging potential (49 to 67%) in relevance to highest polyphenol and flavonoid contents (1203 ± 64 mg GAE/L and 178 ± 8 mg TE/L, respectively). Whereas, ascorbic acid was maximally recorded in lemongrass-based drink 22 ± 1 mg/100 mL. During 30 days storage under refrigeration, significant decrease was recorded in pH of the RTS drink along with considerable increase in acidity and browning index however, total soluble solids demonstrated non-significant pattern. Sedimentation showed an inclining trend (p˂.05) with progression in storage but comparatively less sedimentation was attributed to lemongrass incorporated drink followed by cinnamon containing drink. Turbidity also indicated significant changes but showed inverse pattern with respect to sedimentation. Additionally, ginger-based drink expressed considerably low total plate count as 2.3 ±.1 log CFU/mL with nil yeast and mold growth by all the extracts throughout storage. Further, ginger portrayed highest rate for odor, taste and consistency though, mixed herbs and spices based drink attained the best color score. Conclusively, ginger-based drink portrayed maximum antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]