Abstract
A manually operated cashew juice extractor of capacity 1.47 kg of apples per hour and operating on a screw press principle was designed, constructed and tested. Apple crushing was by pressing a wooden piston against a steel reinforced end plate. The construction materials were stainless steel and wood in view of the high corrosion property of cashew juice on metals. Juice output was 1.02 litres/hr and the average juice extraction efficiency was 85.38 %. Three samples of the juice (fresh juice, juice stored under ambient conditions and refrigerated juice) were served to a 20 member trained taste panel for sensory evaluation. The results indicated a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the colour, taste and general acceptability of juice under ambient storage when compared with fresh juice; but there was no significant difference in the mouth feel. There was no significant difference between the colour, taste and mouth feel of the refrigerated juice and fresh juice; but the difference in general acceptability was significant. The refrigerated juice had the highest general acceptability by the panelists. The physico-chemical characteristics show that appearance, specific gravity, pH and total soluble solids of the juice are affected by storage under ambient conditions but not by refrigeration. The vitamin C content of the refrigerated juice was higher than that of juice stored under ambient conditions.
