Vijaykumar T. Kore Sima S. TawadeI. ChakrabortyLembisana H. D
The processing of citrus juice industry faced formidable problems of excessive bitter taste in terms
of “bitterness” and “delayed bitterness” of juice worldwide because it reduces the quality and commercial value
of the product. The two main compounds which impart the bitterness in citrus fruits are naringin and limonin.
Efforts have been made to reduce the accumulation of bitter principles during the development and maturing of
citrus fruit through chemical sprays, agronomic practices and post-harvest treatment of fruit. Many debittering
technologies have been developed based on chemical, physical and microbial processes e.g. raising pH of the
juice, addition of β-cyclodextrin monomer, use of adsorbent XAD-16, suppression of bitterness by addition of
sweetening agents and conversion of bitter principles to non-bitter components by the action of immobilized
bacteria. Few of the above techniques viz., addition of β-cyclodextrin monomer, use of adsorbent XAD-16 and
conversion of bitter principles to non-bitter components by the action of immobilized bacteria which have
some limitations/drawbacks along with large cost warranted the necessity to look for innovative technique(s).
