One of the biggest problems for any beverage company is that a product that tastes great and looks perfect during the testing stage is never the same during production. So, a product that worked perfectly in the laboratory can become compromised during filling, heating, storage or mixing. It can become browner, lose flavour or begin to separate on the bottom.
Often this is due to poor ingredient stability, with some ingredients simply not able to handle the conditions used for beverage manufacturing.
When selecting ingredients for your beverage product, stability is not always a case of spending more money; it is simply ensuring that you understand how an ingredient will behave and whether it can withstand the production process. Here is what to consider when choosing ingredients that remain stable during beverage processing.
Why It Is Important For Ingredients To Stay Stable
From the point of creation, a beverage is subject to a range of processes before it reaches the end user. A beverage may be heated or chilled, mixed or filled into containers, stored for several weeks or months and loaded onto shelves. In all of these processes, ingredients can be susceptible to damage or change.
Your beverage could suffer from:
- The colour browning or changing colour over time
- The flavour fading or developing an off-taste
- Sediment on the bottom of the bottle
- Separate ingredients creating visible layers
- Loss of potency for vitamins and active ingredients
Ultimately, your product could look, taste or smell different from previous batches, which has the potential to cause complaints, rejection and loss of profit. That is why certain ingredients should be considered during product development and not later down the line when they are causing production issues.
Step 1: Know How Your Beverage Will Be Manufactured
As a starting point, take time to think about the different ways that your beverage will be manufactured. Certain manufacturing processes create specific conditions that some ingredients will respond differently to:
- Will the drink go through a heating process? If so, how hot does the drink go and for how long?
- Will the product be hot-filled, through tunnel pasteurisation or cold-filled?
- Is the beverage carbonated?
- Will the product be packed in cans or bottles? Will the product be exposed to light or oxygen?
- What shelf life will you need?
For example, a product that is heated during the bottling process is going to require ingredients that can sustain a high temperature. A beverage with a short shelf life may require a different set of ingredients than a product with a long shelf life.
Knowing these factors will allow you to ensure that you pick ingredients suitable for your manufacturing process.
Step 2: Keep An Eye On pH
pH describes the acidity of a beverage, with low pH meaning a product is more acidic and high pH meaning it is more alkaline. The pH of your product can make the difference between a product having the right colour, taste, preservation and appearance and one that does not. Some ingredients change colour at different pH levels; some require specific acidic environments to work effectively, while others cannot be guaranteed to work in certain pH ranges.
It is also worth checking the technical data sheet for an ingredient, as this may detail what pH range an ingredient can be used successfully in.
Step 3: Focus On How Ingredients Will Withstand Heat
Not all ingredients are able to withstand heat, and it is worth knowing how they will behave when exposed to heat treatment. For example:
Sugar and sucralose tend to work well under heat and will stay stable throughout processing. Steviol glycosides (or stevia) are also considered quite stable under a range of processing conditions. Aspartame, while acceptable at low levels in many products, can start to lose its sweetness when exposed to high temperatures, particularly in an acidic environment. Therefore, if you need a high-temperature process, it is worth considering how this will affect ingredients and their ability to withstand it.
Vitamin C is particularly susceptible to heat, light and oxygen, and so it may lose its potency during processing and storage. You may need to factor this into your additions or opt for a different ingredient form.
It is also worth checking whether the extract will maintain its colour, flavour, and solubility once in the finished product.
Step 4: Look At The Colour Of Your Beverage Carefully
Colour can influence a consumer’s perception of a beverage greatly, with even small changes in shade leading to differences in how a beverage is perceived. Unfortunately, there are a number of colour ingredients that can be affected by processing and storage conditions:
Anthocyanins: found in berries, grapes or red cabbage, these pigments can change or lose their colour when exposed to heat, light or pH variations.
Beta-carotene: whilst providing an orange hue, it is not water-soluble and so requires a dispersing or formulation system to allow it to be distributed evenly throughout a beverage.
Caramel: used frequently in many types of beverages, caramel colour is generally fairly stable when exposed to heat in an acidic solution.
Turmeric-based colour: yellow in appearance, it can lose colour strength when exposed to light.
If you want a natural pigment, then do not just consider how it appears when added to a beverage initially, but also how it will appear when processed and stored. A colour that appears attractive immediately may fade to an unacceptable colour once on store shelves.
Step 5: Choose Flavours That Will Respond to Heat
Flavour is perhaps the most important component in any beverage, but certain flavours are more susceptible to being affected during the beverage manufacturing process. Several of the flavour compounds used in beverage production are “volatile” and can therefore be evaporated into the atmosphere during heating. Some will also “oxidise” and therefore change character when exposed to oxygen. Fruits, such as citrus, can often develop bitter flavours or become “stale” as the beverage ages and pH levels drop.
To help you achieve your desired flavour profile, you might consider:
- Selecting formulations of flavours designed for heat-treated or acidic beverages.
- Choosing encapsulated or emulsified flavours to enhance flavour delivery and stability, especially in cloudy or heat-treated drinks.
- Adding flavours at a later stage of processing (where feasible) to reduce exposure to heat.
- Limiting contact with air by keeping mixing tanks properly closed to limit oxygen exposure.
Step 6: Use Preservatives & Acids to Suit Your Recipe
Preservatives differ in their suitability for various types of beverages, and various formulations and processing procedures are also relevant. Sodium benzoate will be more effective over a wider pH range at the lower end in an acidic formulation. Potassium sorbate has a relatively narrow pH applicability and is concentration dependent.
Acids (citric, phosphoric, malic, etc.) will also have an impact on taste, modify pH, control microbe growth and affect other ingredients. Always consider how your ingredients will interact with each other.
Step 7: Test Your Water
Whether you are brewing or bottling, you will be using water. Therefore, it has the potential to affect colour, clarity, flavour and mouthfeel. Too much mineral, chlorine, dissolved oxygen or foreign material can affect clarity, clog your water filter and affect the taste.
Treat the water adequately and have a composition that will give you a consistent, predictable flavour and clarity of each batch. Always have the water tested during a batch of beer; don’t just test one sample from the batch.
Step 8: Add Stabilising Agents
In order to give the perfect presentation of the product, fruit pulp, herbal powders, plant-based milk and even protein will all require stabilising. The stabilisers pectin, xanthan gum and gellan gum are used to disperse the ingredients to avoid stratification and sedimentation.
But if you add too much stabiliser, it can affect your drinking experience and give the drink an unpleasant mouthfeel and viscosity. Your ability to create a well-balanced, stable, and properly formed drink comes down to a lot of trial and error when using stabilising agents, as they come in many shapes and sizes.
Step 9: Small-Scale Trial
Make a small batch of your product and process in the same manner as you would your commercial finished process, even if you are working from a specifications sheet from the supplier. Some ingredients don’t behave in the way you might expect when you mix ingredients into a drink, so make whatever adjustments are necessary for your trial. Watch the colour, aroma, taste, clarity, fizz and test the pH.
Adjust the sugars if required and sample at room temperature and 40°C for 1, 2 and 4 weeks. Record any differences in colour, odour and any suspended solids and identify the stratification and sedimentation properties of the solids. This should enable you to sort out any formulation problems prior to commercial production.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Selecting Beverage Components
- Relying solely on low-cost components that may not provide the stability or performance you require.
- Selecting ingredients solely based on their pH performance.
- Expecting natural components to perform the same under different conditions.
- Changing ingredient combinations without retesting their interactions.
- Skipping shelf-life testing to assess product shelf life and stability.
Ayuray Organics Makes It Easy to Choose Ingredients That Remain Stable During Beverage Processing
Bottling water, finding the right stabilising ingredients, selecting flavour formulations suitable for heat or acid exposure and lab testing a small production run are all elements that take time and require significant financial investment.
When you work with Ayuray Organics, you can be assured that they can give your beverage the ingredients it needs to perform and remain stable during and after manufacture.
Our ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 22000:2018 certified facilities support the manufacture of aluminium-can packaged beverages from concept through to product completion. Whether you need help with:
- Product Development and Formulation
- In-house Laboratory Testing
- Contract Manufacturing of Beverages
- Private Label Formulation, Development and Manufacturing of Beverages
- Smart Co-Packing and Labelling
Contact Ayuray Organics to learn how we can support your beverage manufacturing needs. Ready to launch your own beverage brand? Visit ayurayorganics.com, call +91 7087961144 or email ayurayindia@gmail.com.
Conclusion
Getting your ingredients in check is only part of the equation. Equally important is considering how they will perform through the shelf life of a product. Remember that heat, light, pH and storage can all impact the appearance and taste of a beverage. Be sure to check how each ingredient, be it sweetener, colour, flavour or preservative, will perform during processing and over time.
You don’t need to jump in with the big batches; start small and let your beverage develop. Is the colour lighter? Has the taste changed? Is there any sediment on the bottom? Those subtle little things say a lot about the formulation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which ingredients will be stable in a beverage?
A stable ingredient is one that does not change easily during processing and storage. It should stay true to its original colour, taste, strength and texture.
Are natural ingredients more unstable than chemicals?
Not necessarily, but some natural ingredients, especially colours, flavourings and vitamins, are a little more susceptible to light, heat and oxygen exposure.
Which sweeteners are heat-stable?
Sugar and sucralose tend to be your best option when you are using a heated process. Stevia can be used if it is acceptable. Aspartame can lose some sweetness with heat and low pH.
How do I prevent the colour of my beverage from fading?
Choose a colour that is appropriate to your pH of your beverage. Protect against too much light and oxygen. Test under storage conditions for the shelf life you are aiming for.
How long do I need to test a beverage for stability?
There is no specific timeframe, and it depends on your expected shelf life. You can start by testing after 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and so on, and expand outwards from there depending on your results.
Why does my beverage form sediment?
Any particles in a liquid will eventually settle. Poor water quality, changes in pH and other factors may also contribute. Ingredients such as pectin and gellan gum can improve stability when used in the right formulation.
Does processing with heat always affect beverage ingredients?
Not in all cases. Sugar, for example, can tolerate heat quite well. Other ingredients, especially some natural colours and delicate flavourings, can lose a proportion of their quality.
Can I substitute one ingredient without knowing how it will affect the formulation?
Do not assume that. Even a small change can affect the strength and flavour of ingredients, as well as colour and pH. The best approach is to produce a trial batch and check for any differences.
Why is pH important for stability?
PH has an impact on the colour of drinks. It also impacts whether preservatives will be effective and how well certain ingredients will perform. Drinks with a different pH may well have a different shelf life.
Is Ayuray Organics able to help develop a stable beverage?
Yes. If you have a beverage idea that you are having trouble turning into a finished product, Ayuray Organics can help. The company can support product formulation, product prototypes, and in-house laboratory testing. It also offers contract manufacturing, private labelling and co-packing. You can visit ayurayorganics.com to speak to a member of staff.
