Abstract: Quality-related physico-chemical indexes of blood orange juice were determined during storage at different temperatures, and the effect of low temperature on the quality of blood orange juice was investigated. Results indicated that blood orange juice was abundant in anthocyanins (68.84 mg/L), flavonoids (0.18 mg/mL), ascorbic acid (0.63 mg/mL), amino acids (43.012 mg/mL) and sugars (128.3 mg/mL). Meanwhile, the juice contained essential trace elements such as Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and Cu. HPLC analysis showed that soluble sugars in the juice were mainly glucose (2.1 g/100 mL), sucrose (7.4 g/100 mL) and fructose (2.2 g/100 mL). During the storage of blood orange juice, the attractive red color was lost along with the decrease in anthocyanin content, the content of ascorbic acid decreased significantly, by around 52% after 40 days, reducing sugar content changed slowly, and total acid content increased smoothly.

Key words: blood orange, juice, storage, quality change