Effect of Addition of Herbal Extract and Maturation on Apple Wine

Abstract

Preparation of wine from surplus apple fruits can reduces postharvest losses besides source of income. Apple wine using different sources of sugars i.e. honey, sugar, molasses and jaggary to raise the TSS of must to 24°B was prepared as per routine procedure. To impart medicinal value, spices and herb extract of hops, menth, anola, ginger and garlic @5% each was added to the must. The apparent effect of addition of extract was to delay the fermentation, not to stop it. Physico-chemical characteristics of apple wine before and after 6 months of maturation showed that the addition of extract did not affect the quality of wine adversely. From the sensory quality point of view, extract treated honey based, concentrate based or concentrate + apple juice based wines were superior to the control apple wine in most of the sensory qualities. The highest score was awarded to honey + herbs and spices extract (5%) based wine. Addition of extract increased the aldehyde, esters and total phenols which are expected to contribute the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the wine. The changes during maturation were desirable and in general, were the same as found in any wine. During maturation, reducing sugars, total esters, titrable acidity, ethanol and volatile acidity increased significantly while total phenols deseased but there was no effect on TSS and no significant decrease in total sugars and higher alcohols took place.