Browning is one of the vital factors that deteriorate the quality of juice. In this study, the natural browning process of NFC cloudy apple juice was simulated during short-term storage at 4℃ and 20℃ in an unsealed and incompletely airtight state, and the changes in nutrition and flavor of cloudy apple juice during browning were analyzed. The results showed that the degree of browning during storage of NFC cloudy apple juice was affected by storage temperature and time directly. At the both two storage temperatures, the color of the cloudy apple juice was continuously deepening, and the contents of total phenol and vitamin C were gradually decreasing with the prolonged storage time. The decrease of soluble solids content and the increase of titratable acid led to a decrease in the sugar-acid ratio. Among them, the speed of juice quality deterioration relatively fast at 20℃ storage. However, at 4℃ storage, the quality change was not obvious at the initial stage of storage, which obviously accelerated at the later stage of storage. In the early stage of storage, the volatile flavor compounds of NFC cloudy apple juice, such as aromatic compounds and nitrogen oxide compounds decreased. However, in the later stage of storage, hydrocarbons, inorganic sulfides, alkanes and aliphatic substances gradually increased. Correlation analysis of browning and the quality indicators of cloudy apple juice showed that the degree of browning had a greater correlation with the taste and volatile flavor of cloudy apple juice at cold storage, while it had a greater correlation with the nutrient contents at room temperature storage. This study could enrich the juice storage mechanism and provide theoretical reference on study and control quality change of cloudy apple juice during processing and short-term storage after opening. © 2021, Editorial Department of Journal of Food Science and Technology. All right reserved.
