Nutritional, sensory, physico-chemical, phytochemical, microbiological and shelf-life studies of natural fruit juice formulated from orange (Citrus sinensis), lemon (Citrus limon), Honey and Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

Orange (Citrus sinensis), lemon (Citrus limon), ginger (Zingiber officinale) and honey contain nutrients and phytochemicals that are beneficial to health. Most of the available fruit drinks are artificial and may contain a lot of chemicals which could be unhealthy and detrimental to the health of the consumers. This work was aimed at formulating a healthy fruit drink from the combination (blend) of orange, lemon, ginger and honey for the development of a new product. Thirty (30) different juice blends (formulae) were made and subjected to sensory evaluation, from which five best formulated juices were selected using a 9 point hedonic scale. These were then subjected to physicochemical, nutritional, phytochemical, microbiological analyses and shelf-life studies. The results of the study showed pH (3.40–4.90), Vitamin C (0.04–0.06 mg/mL), titrable acidity (0.04–0.21 citric acid mg/100mL), total soluble solids (2.90–20.69%), reducing (0.41–1.44 mg/mL) and non-reducing sugar (0.21–2.06 mg/mL). The moisture, protein, fat, ash, fibre and available carbohydrate contents ranged from 79.31-97.10 %, 0.01–0.56g/100mL, 0.05–0.11g/100mL, 0.51–1.13g/100mL, 0.01–0.09g/100mL and 16.39–22.99g/100mL respectively. The macro (K, Ca, P, Na) and micro (Zn, Fe) minerals varied differently with Potassium (K) being the most abundant. Amongst the five best formulated juices, F22 (5% lemon juice) was the most organoleptically accepted. On the other hand, F21 (10% lemon juice + sugar) which had the least overall acceptability amongst the five, was shown to be the most nutritive.