Low-cost production and healthy preservation of malt drink using Melkassa-7 and Moringa oleifera leaf extract

Abstract

Currently, there has been an increased interest in the beverage industry to produce gluten-free, low-alcohol drinks with increased shelf life. Maize is a widely grown and most versatile cereal to produce cost effective brewery products by replacing its conventional raw material, barley. In this present study a non-toxic and low-cost nutritious malt drink was prepared using Melkassa-7 (yellow maize) and is preserved using a novel, healthy, and eco-friendly preservative extracted from Moringa oleifera. The quality of the selected cereal was estimated in terms of proximate analysis and its malting properties was expressed as thousand kernel weight, malting loss, germination capacity and energy. The mashing process was optimized and a robust model was developed. The final malt drinks were formulated with 5%, 10%, and 15% of the preservative. The physio-chemical analysis of the three drinks was performed and verified with the standards. Anti-microbial effect and shelf life were estimated using three important spoilage microbes, yeast, coliforms, and Escherichia coli. Further, sensory characteristics were tested using a panel of six professional tasters from Dashen brewery. Finally, as prepared product was compared with Luse, a standard product of Dashen brewery.