FORMULATION OF FRUIT BASED NUTRITIOUS BEVERAGES INCORPORATING CELERY AND MINT, USING A NATURAL SWEETENER

The present study was undertaken to analyze the nutritional composition of celery and mint to be used for beverages preparation, using a variety of fruit bases like orange, gooseberry and cherry tomatoes and also to chemically determine the nutritional constituents of the prepared beverages. Celery juice/pulp and mint was incorporated into three beverages using orange, gooseberry and cherry tomato in three different drinks along with Stevia as the natural and zero calorie sweeteners, using the standard ingredients and methods of preparation. The four treatments were T The beverages prepared were organoleptically evaluated for color, consistency, taste & flavor and overall acceptability using a 9 point Hedonic Scale. The cherry tomato based celery beverage with mint was best among all the three. The nutritional compositions of beverages were chemically analyzed. The total carbohydrate content ranged from 2.28gm to 33.5gm/100ml, the carotene content ranged from 9µg-486.32µg, the highest being in the cherry tomato based drink. The iron content was between 1.2mg and 2.66mg/100ml, the vitamin-C was between 22.8mg and 600mg/100ml, the highest being in the gooseberry based juice. The calcium content ranged from 5mg-56.56mg/100ml. It was concluded from the study that the beverages formulated using celery; mint and Stevia at different levels of incorporation were at par with conventional beverages while improving the vitamin-C, carotene, iron and calcium content in addition to the fact that celery and mint has several other therapeutic benefits.