Characterization of the flavor, sensory quality and in vitro bioaccessibility in cloudy pomegranate juice treated by high pressure and thermal processing

BACKGROUND Recently, cloudy pomegranate juice (PJ) has become popular due to its rich phenolic and health-promoting effects. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the application of high hydrostatic pressure processing (HPP), pasteurization (PT) and high-temperature short-time sterilization (HTST) on physicochemical properties (color, flow behavior, turbidity, sugars, organic acids, aroma and sensory evaluation) and in vitro bioaccessibility of total phenolics content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC) and phenolics of cloudy PJ. RESULTS Compared to HPP, thermal sterilization significantly increased the brightness ( L *), redness ( a *), total color difference (Δ E ) and turbidity, and decreased the TPC and TFC. HPP maintained the volatile profile of cloudy PJ better, while thermal sterilization significantly changed the profile by decreasing alcohols 23.8–32.7% and increasing acids by 33.6%–182.8%. The bioaccessibility of flavonoids, phenolic acids and tannins in the control cloudy PJ after in vitro oral-gastric-intestinal digestion were 1.5%, 4.9%, and 9.0%, respectively, which were not significantly changed by different treatments. CONCLUSION These results contributed to promoting the color quality and health benefits of cloudy PJ rich in phenolics by optimizing the processing conditions in the food industry. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.