Optimisation of functional cabbage drinks with lime juice using Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Functional beverages have become popular due to its appeal to consumers who are seeking specific health benefits in their foods and beverages. Thus, a new functional beverage from cabbage extract with rich alkaloid content was developed. The acceptability of the cabbage drink was with respect to the initial cabbage extract concentrations (5.0%, 12.5% and 20.0%) and lime juice as natural flavour (0%, 2.0% and 4.0%). A central composite design (CCD) was applied to study the response pattern for monitoring sensory quality and acceptability as well as its physico-chemical properties of the formulated cabbage drink. In Response Surface Methodology (RSM), both sensory evaluation with hedonic rating scale and Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) were used as the response factors to identify the best ratio of cabbage extract to lime juice. Quantitative Descriptive Analysis indicated that 13.93% cabbage extract incorporated with 3.36% of lime juice resulted in a sensory score of 5.37, 5.04 and 5.36 for taste, aroma and overall acceptability respectively. The addition of juice also successfully improved the taste of the cabbage drink. The pH and total soluble solid for the optimum formulation was 2.67 and 9.62 °Brix respectively. The formulated cabbage drink has further raised the functional value of the product through alkaloid content, particularly amounting to 518.4 ppm with 81% antioxidant activity measured via DPPH assay.