Effect of cation exchange resin treatment and addition on sugar as anti-caking agent on retention of nutritional and sensory quality of lemon juice powder during storage

Lemon juices clarified with enzymatic treatment with and without cation exchange resin treatment were concentrated to 60o Brix in a vacuum evaporator and converted into powders by foam mat drying technique. Powders obtained from cation exchange resin treated juice were better in quality with respect to acidity, glucose, fructose, sugars, and ascorbic acid contents as compared to those prepared form non treated juice. Further, during 9 months storage, the powders suffered slight loss of acidity, and increase in reducing sugars i.e. glucose and fructose and considerable loss (31–55%) in vitamin C contents. Storage conditions did not bring about any significant change in the ash and hesperidin content of the product. But some losses were registered in the total phenols (23.69%) and sensory quality (from 7.72 to 7.26) of the powders. Further, the powders prepared from cation exchange resin treated juice and those pulverized with cane sugar suffered overall lesser changes in most of the quality parameters during 9 months of storage, thus indicating that, the treatment of lemon juice with cation exchange resin is beneficial for better initial product quality and pulverization of prepared powder with cane sugar is beneficial in reducing the hygroscopicity and retention of quality in a better way.