Abstract:
A Majority of individuals prefer ready-to-serve (RTS) beverages over preparing herbal drinks due
to the busy lifestyle. The current study was focused on the development of a ready-to-serve herbal
drink using the pulp of Sesbania grandiflora leaflets and Citrofortunella microcarpa fruit sac juice
with sugar, table salt, and distilled water. According to previous studies, the major active compounds
of the drink contain high antioxidant activity and nutrients which are considered beneficial for
human health. A sensory evaluation was conducted by a trained group of tasters to choose the best
sample with significant differences to taste, appearance, and aroma. pH value, titratable acidity, Brix
value, reducing sugar activity, antioxidant activity, qualitative analysis of phytochemicals, microbial
analysis, and shelf life of the herbal drink were determined. The herbal drink contained a pH value of
2.36 at 298.15 K, titratable acidity of 0.384% when the milliequivalent factor for citric acid is 0.064,
and a Brix value of 11 at 293.15 K. The herbal drink contains the phytochemicals such as sterols,
terpenoids, flavonoids, phenols, glycosides, and saponins which were identified from qualitative
analysis, whereas alkaloids and tannins were absent. Antioxidant activity had a maximum of 71.48%
DPPH radical scavenging activity (RSA) at 12.5% (v/v) concentration of drink in methanol and
inhibition concentration 50 (IC50) was at 47% (v/v) concentration of the drink in methanol. The
total plate count was 840 CFU/ml (colony-forming units per milliliter) and the estimated yeast and
mold count was <250 CFU/ml, yet coliform, fecal coliform, and Escherichia coli had no growth for
two days under optimum growth conditions. According to the study, the refrigerated sample had the
least amount of microbial growth. Therefore, the herbal drink sans preservatives is recommended to
be stored in the refrigerator.
