Effect of thermal treatment on ascorbic acid content of pomegranate juice

309-313Pomegranate (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Punica granatum) is one of the important fruit crops in India and the juice from pomegranate is one of the nature’s good antioxidants source. The loss in antioxidant property in response to vitamin C and total phenolic content over the temperature range of 70-90°C was studied. The degradation kinetics of ascorbic acid in pomegranate juice during thermal treatment of 70-90°C was also studied. The loss of ascorbic acid followed the first order kinetic model. The temperature dependence of this degradation reaction can be described well by Arrhenius equation. The activation energy for this reaction was 81.67 kJ/mol but the retention of ascorbic acid and total phenolic content of the juice treated at 70°C for 90 min was more than 69 and 90%, respectively as that of the fresh pomegranate juice.