Sucrose replacement: A sensory profile and time-intensity analysis of a tamarind functional beverage with artificial and natural non-nutritive sweeteners.

Abstract

Tamarind pulp contains polyphenolic compounds that exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities with a positive impact on human health. The elaboration of a tamarind based functional beverage, without the addition of sucrose, can be an alternative to traditional caloric beverages. This study aimed to evaluate the sensory profile and time-intensity of tamarind functional beverage containing artificial and natural non-nutritive sweeteners.The results of the acceptance test, check-all-that-apply, and time-intensity test showed that the sample sweetened with sucralose presented no statistically significant difference between the obtained means for the attributes relating to appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and overall impression compared to those of the sample with sucrose. Samples with natural sweeteners had lower means of overall product impression and lower percentage of purchase intention. The perception of astringency, bitter taste, and bitter aftertaste may be linked to the lower global impression of the product. The descriptors "tamarind flavor" and "refreshment sensation" were higher in products that were more liked. The stevia sweetened sample showed higher levels of sweetness, bitterness, and longer sweet stimulus duration in the time-intensity test.The sample sweetened with sucralose was the best alternative to sucrose in the functional tamarind beverage. The analyzed sweeteners did not show changes in the perception of natural characteristics of the used fruit, such as tamarind flavor, refreshment sensation and astringency. However, the attributes related to sweet and bitter aftertaste experienced in samples with natural sweeteners may have influenced the decrease in the product purchase intention. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.