Effect of different concentrations of bitter orange concentrate, date syrup and mulberry syrup on physicochemical, microbial and sensory properties of beverage of bitter orange

In the present study, due to growing approach in functional beverages and increasing human awareness, it was attempted to produce functional beverage based on bitter orange with mulberry syrup and date syrup which not only there were sweetener agents, but also had beneficial nutritive and therapeutic properties, for people with diabetes and high blood pressure. So, two levels of bitter orange concentrate (10% and 20%) with date and mulberry syrups with different ratios (zero, 4% and 8% of each of them and combination (50:50) of both at same concentrate) as natural sweeteners in production of functional beverage in Randomized complete design at 5% probability level were used. Then, the physical, chemical, microbiological and sensory properties of formulated beverages were analyzed. The results showed the treatment including 20% bitter orange and 8% date syrup, had the lowest moisture loss during 28 days of storage time in comparison to other samples. Moreover, storage of beverages at room temperature during 28 days indicated that the level of bitter orange concentrate and sweeteners had considerable effects on chemical and microbial properties of treatments. Nevertheless, functional beverages consist 20% bitter orange concentrate with 8% date syrup and 4% mulberry syrup and combination of both (8%) showed the best physicochemical, microbial and sensory properties during 28 days at room temperature due to more appropriate pH, high content of fibers, lower microbial growth and theirs antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds. Therefore, bitter orange beverage with natural sweeteners such as date and mulberry syrups could be introduced as functional ones which have so many beneficial effects on human body especially for diabetics.