Acerola is a fruit which is much appreciated due to its high vitamin C content. It also has a good source of carotenoids and anthocyanins and is industrialised as frozen pulp and processed as juice. Research on the effects of processing on the nutritional constituent of tropical juices is scarce. Often, only the loss of vitamin C is evaluated. The aim of this work is to determine the effect of some processing operations (formulation/ homogenization and heat treatment) on physical and physical-chemical characteristics of acerola juice. The results of this research indicate small changes in the physical and physical-chemical characteristics, and a significant change in the pH, a decrease in the vitamin C and anthocyanins content and an increase in the carotenoids of the processed juice were observed.
acerola tropical juice; vitamin C; carotenoids; anthocyanins
