There has been considerable increase in the consumption of fruit and vegetable juice beverages in the world during the last few years (Anon, 1998). Contrary to this, the fruit juice industry in our country is still not in sound footing. Like in many countries, fruit juice beverages are considered more as occasional drinks in our country. Bottled squashes, nectars and other forms of fruit based beverages are looked upon as an expensive indulgence. The consumers compare the cost of such items directly with the cost incurred in making juice at home when the fruit is in season. In such a market, RTS fruit beverages containing 10-15% juice with low price can become a viable alternative to the bottled soft drinks with different brands acceptable to the consumers. Indian holds an unique position by growing a number of fruit having total production of 48 million tines during 1997-98. Because of its diversified climate conditions, fruit of different kinds are available throughout the year. Fruits like banana, mango, citrus, pineapple, apple, guava, grape, litchi, papaya, alona, ber etc are some of the important fruits which are grown commercially in different parts of the country. Due to perishable nature of fruits, they require immediate processing to avoid post harvest losses. Moreover owing to high acidity, astringency and such other factors in some of the fruits, the utilization of these fruits for preparation of various processed products become limited, despite having their high nutritional qualities. Therefore, blending of two or more fruit juices and theirt beverages are thought to be convenient alternative for its utilization in order to have some value added fruits drinks which are of high quality in respect of both sensory and nutritional aspects.
       Various workers (Tripathi et al., 1992; Saxena et al., 1996; attn et al., 1998) have reported that two or more fruit juices/pulp may be bended in various proportion for the preparation of more palatable and nutritious nectars, RTS beverages etc. Moreover, there is always a demand from the consumers all over the world for new food products which should be nutritious and delicately flavoured. Of late, spiced in the from of fruit drinks/squashes/ appetizers/health drinks etc are gaining importance in the market. Spices in foods are primarily used for their flavour and stability in storage and have natural antioxidant and antimicrobial properties apart from having carminative effect and also aid digestion through the stimulation of appetite (Griffin, 1992).
       It is reported that the organoleptic quality of RTS beverages prepared from juices such as plum and watermelon could be increased by addition of spice extracts like ginger, black pepper, mint, cardamom and cumin (Joshi etc., 1993, Gowda and Jalali, 1995). These spice apart from their appetizing properties, also possess medicinal and therapeutic value, which have a profound effect on human health, since they affect many functional processes. The blending of juices and their spiced aroma, nutrition etc. Finally one could think of a new product development through blending in 4the from of a natural health drink.