The evolution of quality characteristics of mango piece after pasteurization and during shelf life in a mango juice drink

Mango is a commercially important and popular tropical fruit. While there is a growing commercial interest to incorporate fruit pieces in juices and soft drinks, such implementation for mango pieces is impaired by the sensitivity of the pieces texture during beverage processing (i.e., thermal treatment) and shelf life. In this work, we have evaluated the evolution of texture, color and composition of mango pieces from two non-fully ripe ripening stages in a mango juice drink after pasteurization (77 °C for 15 min) and shelf life (8 weeks at 21 °C). Our results indicated that the firmness of the pieces from the earlier ripening stage was significantly improved by pasteurization and preserved during storage. On the other hand, no improvement in texture was observed for the riper pieces most likely due to a more degraded cell wall structure at the later ripening stage preventing the beneficial firmness increase occurring due to starch gelatinization. Those results, combined with the observed migration of sugars and acids between the pieces and the juice, suggest that the utilization of non-fully ripe mango pieces could present a promising opportunity for the addition of mango bits to fruit beverages.