Red fresh vegetables smoothies with extended shelf life as an innovative source of health-promoting compounds

Two fresh red vegetables smoothies based on tomato, carrots, pepper and broccoli and rich in health-promoting compounds were developed. The smoothies showed a viscoelastic behaviour. According to sensory analyses, a shelf life of 28 days at 5 A degrees C for fresh blended smoothies was established while thermally-treated ones (3 min, 80 A degrees C) reached up to 40 days at 20 A degrees C and 58 days at 5 A degrees C. For those mild heat treated smoothies, total vitamin C degradation was 2-fold reduced during storage at 5 A degrees C compared to samples stored at 20 A degrees C while the initial total carotenoids, lycopene and total chlorophylls contents were not greatly affected. A 250-g portion of such smoothies covers in a great extend the established recommended daily nutrient intakes for dietary fibre, minerals and vitamin C of different population groups. As main conclusion, a mild thermal treatment and low temperature storage greatly increased the shelf life of red fresh vegetables smoothies and reduced total vitamin C degradation.