BIOCHEMICAL AND SENSORY QUALITY OF PHYSALIS (PHYSALIS PUBESCENS L.) JUICE ALY F. EL SHEIKHA 1,2,3 , MOHAMMED S. ZAKI 1 , ALI A. BAKR 1 , MAGIDA M. EL HABASHY 1 and DIDIER MONTET 2,3 1 Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Food Science and Technology Minufiya University 32511 Shibin El Kom, Minufiya Government, Egypt 2 CIRAD, UMR Qualisud TA B-95/16, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France Accepted for Publication December 8, 2008 ABSTRACT Ground cherry (Physalis pubescens L.) is one of the most promising exotic fruits and some interesting functional products could be developed from these berries. The fresh juice was yellowish or orangey and had a light, sweet taste with acidic nature (pH 3.5). The titratable acidity was 1.43, polyphenols 76.6 mg/100 mL and vitamin C 38.8 mg/100 mL. Physalis juice was rich in carotenoids (70 mg/mL). The juice had a high level in minerals such as phosphorus (578 mg/100 mL), potassium (1,196 mg/100 mL), zinc (2.4 mg/ 100 mL) and boron (1 mg/100 mL). The essential amino acids in the juice such as isoleucine, valine and tryptophan (42.97, 39.92 and 39.83 mg/100 mL) were higher than those recommended by Food and Agriculture Organization/ World Health Organization/United Nations Union (FAO/WHO/UNU). PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Tropical pulpy juices play an important role in nutrition as an excellent base for low-calorie and dietetic products. Physalis fruit and juice are nutri- tious, containing particularly high levels of niacin, carotenoids and minerals. There are very little available data in the literature regarding physicochemical and sensory properties. As part of the first steps toward developing Physalis as commercial crop, the present study aimed to evaluate the nutritional and sensorial properties of fresh juice as a new product from Physalis. 3 Corresponding authors. TEL: 33-4-67-61-57-28; FAX: 33-4-67-61-44-44; EMAIL: didier.montet@ cirad.fr; elsheikha_aly@yahoo.com Journal of Food Processing and Preservation 34 (2010) 541–555. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-4549.2009.00382.x 541 © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.