Effect of naringinase on debittering of citrus juice

The bitter substances in citrus juice mainly are the glycosidic flavanones with representatives of naringin and neohesperidin, and the triterpenoids with representatives of limonin and nomilin. Because of the presence of those compounds, the citrus juice is difficult to be accepted during drinking. Therefore, the debittering during the processing of citrus juice is very important. The effect of naringinase on the debittering of citrus juice was studied. The results showed that the rate of debittering was over 85%, when the minimum amount of naringinase was 0.5 g·L^-1, the temperature of juice was 45～70℃, pH value of juice was 3～5 and the shortest time of reaction was 60 min. On the basis of single factor experiment, the orthogonal experiment was carried out. The best technical conditions of the debittering of citrus juice by using naringinase were as follows: the amount of naringinase was 0.5 g·L^-1, the temperature of juice was 60℃, pH value of juice was 4 and the reaction time was 90 min. The studies provide the theoretical evidence for the industrialized production of citrus juice.