Abstract:In order to explore the effects of different vacuum concentration methods on the sensory quality of concentrated Orah mandarin juice, his study compared three concentration methods: the vacuum low-temperature long time concentration, vacuum high-temperature short-time concentration, and vacuum three-stage gradient cooling concentration. The changes in color, taste and volatile components of different vacuum concentrated Orah mandarin juice were analyzed using a colorimeter, electronic nose, electronic tongue and headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that the color b*(12.98), ΔE (14.97) and YI (57.16) values of the restored juice from the vacuum three-stage gradient cooling concentration group had insignificant changes, compared with the original juice. The astringency, saltiness and sweetness of the three kinds of restored Orah mandarin juice were significantly lower than those of the original juice, with the sweetness of the restored juice from the vacuum high-temperature short-time concentration group being reduced by 75.00%. The relative contents and types of the volatile substances in the concentrated juice subjected to heating concentration changed. In the vacuum three-stage gradient cooling concentration group, the number of species and relative content of hydrocarbons increased by 6 types and 22.25%, respectively, and the newly generated volatile components, such as β-pinene (9.08%), trans-caryophyllene (2.22%) and β-ocimene (1.17%), gave a richer aroma profile of the Orah mandarin juice. Comprehensive evaluation and cluster analysis showed that the score of the restored juice from the vacuum three-stage gradient cooling concentration was the highest, which was the closest to that of the original juice. The above research results indicate that vacuum three-stage gradient cooling concentration can better retain the color and flavor quality of the original juice, thus is a suitable method for preparing concentrated Orah Mandarin juice.