Sensory evaluation of bael (Aegle marmelos) fruit juice incorporated with selected herbal flavoring agents

Bael (Aegle marmelos) fruit possesses significant nutritional and medicinal value but is underutilized due to its hard shell, mucilaginous texture, and limited palatability in raw form. The present study was undertaken to improve the sensory acceptability of bael fruit juice through incorporation of selected herbs as natural flavouring agents. Bael-based beverages were formulated using aqueous extracts of guava leaves, mint, basil, and lemongrass, along with jaggery as a natural sweetener. Control and treated samples were subjected to sensory evaluation using a nine-point hedonic scale for colour and appearance, aroma, consistency, flavour and taste, and overall acceptability. Results revealed that herbal incorporation significantly enhanced sensory attributes of bael juice (8.80) compared to control (6.20) among the treatments, bael juice flavoured with mint and guava leaf extracts recorded the highest overall acceptability scores. The study concludes that incorporation of herbs is an effective approach to improve consumer acceptability of bael-based beverages and supports their potential for commercial utilization as functional drinks.