Background. Orange juice has high taste acceptability among juices offered on the global market. Therefore, it appears to be a very good matrix for transferring functional ingredients. Both sea buckthorn and quince fruits are rich sources of health-promoting ingredients. Incorporating them as an ingredient into other foods to obtain functional foods could be an innovative approach in processing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the addition of quince or sea buckthorn juice to orange juice on its selected sensory characteristics and physicochemical parameters. The research material consisted of twofruit juices prepared by mixing orange juice and quince or sea buckthorn juice in a volumetric ratio of 4:1. The levels of total extract, pH, total acidity, L-ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity were marked in the juices. In addition, color determination was carried out and sensory analysis was performed.
Results and conclusion. The orange juice enriched with sea buckthorn juice had similar antioxidant activity, compared to the orange juice, while its L-ascorbic acid content increased. The resulting juice, however, did not receive the taste and aroma approval of the sensory panel. The addition of quince juice to orange juice did not significantly change the L-ascorbic acid content, but had a positive effect on the value of antioxidant potential. The overall sensory quality of the resulting two-fruit juice was lower, compared to the evaluation of pure orange juice, however, the differences perceived did not exceed 1.4 points. Quince juice can be a valuable component of orange juice-based juice.