Background. Consumer awareness of a healthy lifestyle is gradually growing. Fruits are a rich source of health-promoting anthocyanins or polyphenols. The aim of the research was to determine the effect of the storage time of mixed juices made from black chokeberry and honeysuckle berry on selected quality characteristics. In this study, it was hypothesized that the storage time of mixed juices would be a factor affecting the content of polyphenols, anthocyanins and color. The test material included black chokeberry and honeysuckle berry juices and mixed juices with a share of juices in the range of 10 ÷ 90 %.
Results and conclusions. The honeysuckle berry juice proved to be a more valuable source of polyphenols and anthocyanins (308.3 and 234.5 mg/100 cm³) than the chokeberry juice (229.9 mg and 122.2 mg/100 cm³). Similarly, the mixed juices with a higher share of honeysuckle berry juice were characterized by a higher content of these compounds, and consequently, a potentially higher health-promoting value. The highest value of L*, a* and b* was found in the 100 % black chokeberry sample. For storage, it was demonstrated that the most intense degradation changes in the bioactive components took place in the first month, whereas in the later period, the rate of changes in these compounds was lower. The one-month storage resulted in a decrease in the content of polyphenols by 12.1 ÷ 14.2 % and anthocyanins by 19.7 ÷ 33.5 %, depending on the juice variant. In the case of color, it was observed that extending the storage time had a significant effect on the brightening of the tested products, as well as on changes in the values of the a* and b*.