Impact of the addition of Lactobacillus casei and oligofructose on the quality parameters of orange juice and hibiscus tea mixed beverage

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of Lactobacillus casei and/or oligofructose on the quality parameters of orange juice and hibiscus tea mixed beverage during refrigerated storage. The addition of the probiotic culture improved the nutritional value and the stability of the rheological parameters during storage. However, it increased the turbidity and altered the color, but with no impact on the sensory acceptance. The synbiotic product had the improved characteristics provided by the probiotic culture, but also maintenance of the color and turbidity parameters. The beverages had probiotic counts higher than 107 CFU/ml and oligofructose content from 1.24 to 1.67 g 100 ml−1. This study proved that is possible to obtain an orange juice and hibiscus tea mixed beverage with improved nutritional properties with the addition of L. casei in the lyophilized form and oligofructose. Practical applications In this research work, the authors demonstrated that it is possible to develop a synbiotic mixed beverage using orange juice and hibiscus tea, which presented a suitable chemical composition, physicochemical characteristics, rheological properties, probiotic viability, and sensory acceptance. This study is important for the beverage industry, which is interested in the development of functional new products and proved that is possible to add directly the probiotic in the lyophilized form to the mixed beverages, dispensing the propagation step and resulting in a time‐consuming processing.