Evaluation of Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Pomegranate Juice- Milk Drink During Storage

Milk and fruit juice due to the high nutritional value, are widely consumed by society’s people. Pomegranate juice in spite of nutritional value has oldness in consumption and milk-pomegranate juice product could be desirable specifically for the consumers who are keen to experience new formulation and taste. Milk-juice beverage is a type of acidified milk drink that one of the main problems in production of the beverage is its low pH. In this study, in order to optimize the milk-pomegranate juice beverage formulation, three factors of milk, pomegranate juice and pectin content were selected. Formulation optimization and determination of optimum levels of each factor was carried out using response surface methodology (RSM) and to study the effect of storage time, optimum milk-pomegranate juice formulations were stored in refrigerator for 42 days and their physicochemical properties were evaluated. The results showed that the effect of milk and pectin content and factors interaction were significant on sedimentation and separation responses. The treatment of 50% pomegranate juice, 20% milk, 30% water and 0.63% pectin had the most nutritional value and can be recommended to be produced. The results revealed that production of milk –pomegranate juice beverage without any sedimentation and seperation by using pectin as stabilizer is possible and the product storage in the refrigerator had no negative effect on its nutritional value.