Abstract

Cashew apple is highly astringent and vulnerable to microbial spoilage which limits its utility to make them fit for human consumption and available throughout the year in the form of beverage. In this context a laboratory experiment was conducted during 2020–21 at Four Labs, RFRS, Vengurla Maharashtra, India to standardize the most suitable CO2 pressure for carbonation of cashew apple syrup. The carbonated beverage was prepared by adding 40 mL syrup in 160 mL carbonated chilled water and made the volume of 200 mL and stored in pre-sterilized PET bottles. The experiment was conducted with seven treatments consist of different CO2 concentration i.e., 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 0 psi in completely randomized design with three replications. The chemical composition and organoleptic qualities of carbonated cashew apple beverage studied at monthly interval and total for 3 months of storage period in order to determine the optimum storage life of product up to which it becomes acceptable among consumers. Among the different treatments studied, carbonation of cashew apple syrup at 80 psi CO2 pressure was appeared as best treatment which consistently recorded the highest organoleptic score for colour, flavor, taste, mouth feel and overall acceptability for 3 months of storage period. In the present study, carbonation level does not have any significant effect on acidity and pH at 90 days of storage.