Jianxue Liu

We evaluated the effects of ultrasound (US) and ultrasound combined with nisin (NUS) treatments on the properties of chestnut lily beverages (CLB) using conventional thermal pasteurisation (TP) as a control. After CLB samples were treated with US and NUS for 20, 40, or 60 min, the polyphenol oxidase activity (PPO), microbial inactivation effect, colour, pH value, total phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity of the CLB were observed. It was found that the inactivation rate of PPO in CLB after NUS treatment was higher than that in the US, indicating that NUS treatment aggravated PPO inactivation. Treatment time was important in the inactivation of microorganisms by US and NUS; NUS had a lethal synergistic lethal effect on microorganisms in CLB and when compared with US, NUS reduced changes in the CLB colour value. Notably, the total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of the US- and NUS-treated CLB significantly increased relative to the TP group. These results that suggest NUS has a potential application value in the development of CLB because it reduces the risk of microorganism contamination and helps improve the quality of CLB. This study provides technical support and a theoretical basis for the improved production of CLB.

The processing parameters have a crucial influence on the stability and sensory quality of beverages. The focus of this study is to observe the rheological behavior, particle size distribution, stability, color change, and sensory evaluation of chestnut lily beverages (CLB) at different rotational speeds (0~20,000 rpm) using a high-shear homogeneous disperser. The CLB system exhibited non-Newtonian shear-thinning behavior. As the homogenization speed increased (0~12,000 rpm), the viscosity increased (0.002~0.059 Pa.s). However, when the rotational speed shear continued to increase (12,000~20,000 rpm), the viscosity decreased slightly (0.035~0.027 Pa.s). Under all homogeneous conditions, the turbidity and precipitation fractions were the lowest when the rotational speed was 12,000 rpm: the sedimentation index was lowest at this point (2.87%), and the relative turbidity value of CLB was largest at this point (80.29%). The average beverage particle diameter and ascorbic acid content showed a downward trend at the homogenization speed from 0 to 20,000 rpm, whereas the total soluble solids (TSS) content followed the opposite trend. The results show that these physical properties can be correlated with different rotational speeds of homogenization. This study explained the effect of homogenization speed on CLB properties, which needs to be considered in beverage processing, where high-speed shear homogenization can serve as a promising technique.

The feasibility of Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy for rapid determination of ethyl pentanoate in Chinese liquor was investigated. A total of 108 liquor samples from production line were analyzed with Fourier transform near-infrared transmission spectroscopy. The calibration model for ethyl pentanoate content prediction was established with partial least square, and validated using internal cross validation. In a calibration set (80 samples), the coefficient of determination was 0.958, with the corresponding root mean square error of cross validation 0.020 g L⁻¹. In a validation set (28 samples), the coefficient of determination was 0.964, with the root mean square errors of prediction 0.023 g L⁻¹, and the bias value (0.005 g L⁻¹) for the validation set was less than the bias confidence limits value (0.009 g L⁻¹), indicating that the resulting near-infrared spectroscopy prediction model has good performance for online rapid determination of ethyl pentanoate in Chinese liquor. The determination of ethyl pentanoate in liquor can be completed in less than 2 min per sample using the near-infrared spectroscopy prediction model. The near-infrared spectroscopy combining chemometrics as a rapid analytical method has a promising application prospect of application in the liquor production field.