Sugarcane juice preservative techniques

Sugarcane is a very valuable item for our health and now a days we have many places where this is available. The problem is hygiene and cleanliness which we have seen only in few paces.

The main work in this enterprise will be peeling, crushing, filtration, pasteurization and bottling of sugarcane juice. There are many people who are selling sugarcane juice in the market but they do not know as how they preserve it as the basic problem is to protect it from degradation and for that best thing is to add some admissible ingredients (preservatives) and keep it in the fridge.

Normally Sodium Benzoate in 125 ppm ( about 1 gram in 10 litres of juice) proportion is to be mixed for safe drinking of the juice. To make it tasty people add some water, ice and some spices and masalas.

These days we are getting in the market packed sugar cane juice. Even there are packets which are stable for one year. Even without adding any preservatives also there are methods which will keep the material without getting spoiled.

Sugarcane juice turns yellowish and gets spoiled within hours. So it is very important to do the treatment and packing as quickly as possible. There are methods where preservatives which are not harmful are added and make it stable for a long time.

1. The easy method is to vacuum pack the material immediately after taking the juice from the sugar cane. We have to introduce online packing of juice. Online in the sense juice taking and immediately packing in high vacuum tin with a very good sealing arrangement. Many vacuum machines are available and many packing machines are also available.

2. By exposing the sugarcane juice for a short time to 5 to 5.5 kGy gamma radiation, adding the permitted chemical preservatives and storing the packed bottles at a low temperature will give very good shelf life to this product

The following preservatives are used by various manufacturers.

1. The citric acid solution required to get 0.3% concentration in the juice

2. The Sodium benzoate solution to get 0.015% concentration in the juice.

3. The potassium sorbate solution to get 0.025 % concentration in the juice.

This method will give a shelf life of 15 days at ambient temperature. The shelf life can be extended up to 35 days by keeping the packs 10 °C.

This method is a recent development and the originality of the juice will never be lost and its flavour will also be the same as that of a fresh juice. The biochemicals present in the juice will not get affected by the addition of these preservatives. There will not be any significant effect on antioxidant activities. The sensory evaluation scores for this treated juice are within the acceptable levels and is highly acceptable.

Many dietitians telling that fruits are to be taken afresh. Avoiding preservatives is highly suggested in all cases. Similar to this sugarcane juice also can be taken afresh than with preservatives. Preservatives are used only when we are consuming at a later period and where we cannot get. As we are very much provided with such items afresh in our country that too in seasons question of preservatives should not be think of.

Sugarcane juice is popularly consumed in India because the same is considered a health drink containing many valuable nutrients such as Phosphorus, Mg, Ca, Vitamins, Aminoacids etc and moreover, it is especially benificial for the patients suffering from Jaundice.
However, because of its fast detoriation with respect to time, we need to add certain preservatives so as to keep the same in the fresh state. A few tips are given below for the enhancement of shell life of the juice.
1) Extract of Moringaseed leaf, Lemon and Ginger were added to the fresh cane juice in different combinations and evaluated at different temperatures say 2 degree centigrade, 4 degree centigrade and 30 degree centigrade. This produced high antimicrobial activity . Lemon could lower the PH value to the juice to the level of 3.01 and further impeded the growth of microorganism in case of storage.
2) The another method involves the storage of the juice in the refrigerator containing 200 ml batchwise and the same is heat treated at around 72 degree centigrade for 15 secs and prior to treatment 1 ml of Ginger juice, 20 ml of Moringa juice and 5 ml of Lemon juice and some colour enhancer are added to make the combination palatable and free from microorganism.
3) A technology has been developed for the preservation of the sugar cane juice up to six months with the following treatments such as peeling, crushing, filtration, pasteurisation and bottling and further treatment with Sodium - benzoate at the rate of 125 ppm per 10 litre.
Later the bottles can be preserved up to six moths without any detoriation.
4) Passing the gamma - Ray's to the entire juice content ( 5 kGY) at low temp ( at 10 degre centigrade) with the permitted preseservatives such as Citric - acid, Potassium - sorbate, Sodium - benzoate with the concentration of 0.030%, 0.025% and 0.015 % respectively would eliminate the chances of degradation.
5) It has been observed that the preservation can be achieved with the method of pasteurisation at 70 degree centigrade for 10 minutes adding Citric - acid ( 40 mg / 100 ml), Ascorbic - acid( 40 mg / 100 ml) and meta bisulphite containing 150 ppm. The juice was added with Lemon and Ginger for the enhancement of taste.
6) Treating the pasteurised sugar cane juice with either Citric - acid or Ascorbic- acid can arrest the degradation of total solids in the solvent and hence the total sugar during the storage process at both room and refrigeration temperature.