Impact of Thermal, Ultraviolet and Ultrasonic Treatment on Mechanical, Physicochemical and Sensory Characteristics of Pear Jelly

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of thermal, ultraviolet, and ultrasonic processing by examining the mechanical, physicochemical, and sensory characteristics of pear fruit jelly. Samples were processed using thermal pasteurization (TP), ultraviolet light (UV-C,) and ultrasound (US) at 65°C/50 min for all methods. US increases the most mechanical performance values compared to TP and UV-C treatment which reduces them. TP does not statistically significantly alter most physicochemical characteristics except for sugars, where it exhibits a slight reducing effect. UV-C irradiation increases water activity and moisture content the most compared to other treatments and has the least reducing effect on sugars. The US treatment significantly reduces the glucose, fructose, and sucrose in the highest amount and increases total solids and soluble solids contents. In terms of color characteristics, TP treatment makes the color of the samples darker, UV-C irradiation more saturated, and US preserves the original colour best. The strongest correlations between physicochemical and colour parameters have positive and statistically significant Pearson coefficients. Different processing methods had different effects on the sensory characteristics, with UV-C improving aroma, US taste, and texture, and TP having no significant effect on these.