Editor’s Choice Pick: “The Effect of Wild Orange Essential Oil on Ascorbic Acid Decay in Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice”

Meet the Student Author

Chloe Sebek is currently a sophomore at Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado. Chloe chose this research project in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, knowing that the ‘norm’ was to take extra measures as a human being to stay healthy. Drinking orange juice is a common choice to do so, but after hearing about the decay of ascorbic acid that occurs during the chemical engineering process, Chloe wanted to figure out a natural solution to getting our daily Vitamin C!

Chloe’s goal for this project was to see if the addition of wild orange essential oil to freshly squeezed orange juice would slow down the decay of ascorbic acid when exposed to various temperatures, allowing vital nutrients to be maintained, providing a natural alternative to the chemical additives being used today. Ascorbic acid, known as Vitamin C, is an essential nutrient for human beings to stay healthy, especially during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and for those who still struggle with scurvy disease. Ascorbic acid, by nature, is not stable. Once an orange is peeled or juiced and exposed to environmental factors such as temperature, oxidation occurs. Wild orange essential oil has purifying and cleansing properties which has the potential for being a natural food preservative.

Learn More About Chloe’s Research

Chloe’s goal for this project was to see if the addition of wild orange essential oil to freshly squeezed orange juice would slow down the decay of ascorbic acid when exposed to various temperatures, allowing vital nutrients to be maintained, providing a natural alternative to the chemical additives being used today. Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) is an essential nutrient for human beings to stay healthy.

Did you know that humans are one of the few species that does not endogenously produce ascorbic acid? This means that we must get it from our food and drinks, or for supplements. Sailors used to bring barrels of limes with them on ships to help prevent scurvy, which we now know is caused by a lack of ascorbic acid

Ascorbic acid, by nature, is not stable. Once an orange is peeled or juiced and exposed to environmental factors such as temperature, oxidation of the acid occurs - usually resulting in the production of dehydroascorbic acid (DHA). Wild orange essential oil has purifying and cleansing properties which has the potential for being a natural food preservative.

Chloe looked at whether the addition of wild orange essential oil would slow down the decay of ascorbic acid in orange juice that was freshly squeezed. In her experiment, she tested various volumes of essential oil at four different temperatures (all above 110F). Chloe’s results showed that the addition of the essential oil was able to slow down the decay of ascorbic acid, and that higher volumes seemed to protect from decay better.

For future work, Chloe said she would be interested in looking at other citrus and their essential oils to see if they can also slow ascorbic acid decay. It would also be interesting to look at whether the protection is species specific. For example, is orange essential oil protective for lime or lemon juice, or is the effect specific to orange juice? Additionally, the majority of orange juice is pasteurized before it is sold in stores in the United States. Chloe would like to look at the pasteurization process and the effect on ascorbic acid levels and whether the addition of essential oils before this process could protect from any ascorbic acid loss.

Please check out Chloe’s full manuscript to see why it was selected as an Editor’s Choice manuscript.

The material on this page was prepared by Kari Mattison, JEI Editor in Chief. Chloe Sebek provided the photo and personal biography which was edited lightly for clarity.