Abstract
Pawpaw, banana and watermelon are tropical fruits with short shelf-lives under the prevailing temperatures and humid conditions in tropical countries like Nigeria. Production of wine from these fruits could help reduce the level of post-harvest loss and increase variety of wines. Pawpaw, banana and watermelon were used to produce mixed fruit wines using Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from palm wine. Exactly 609 and 406 g each of the fruits in two-mixed and three-mixed fruit fermentation respectively were crushed using laboratory blender, mixed with distilled water (1:1 w/v), and heated for 30 min with subsequent addition of sugar (0.656 kg). The fruit musts were subjected to primary (aerobic) and secondary (anaerobic) fermentation for 4 and 21 days respectively. During fermentation, aliquots were removed from the fermentation tank for analysis. During primary fermentation, consistent increases in alcohol contents (ranging from 0.0 to 15.0 %) and total acidities (ranging from 0.20 to 0.80 %) were observed with gradual decrease in specific gravities (ranging from 1.060 to 0.9800) and pH (ranging from 4.80 to 2.90). Temperature ranged from 27 °C to 29 °C. The alcoholic content of the final wines were 17.50 ± 0.02 % (pawpaw and watermelon), 16.00 ± 0.02 % (pawpaw and banana), 18.50 ± 0.02 % (banana and watermelon wine) and 18.00 ± 0.02 % (pawpaw, banana and watermelon). The alcoholic content of the wines did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). The pH of all the wines were acidic and ranged from 2.5 ± 0.01 to 3.8 ± 0.01 (p > 0.05). The acid concentration (residual and volatile acidity) were within the acceptable limit and ranged from 0.35 ± 0.02 to 0.88 ± 0.01 % (p > 0.05). Sensory evaluation (P > 0.05) rated the wines acceptability as ‘pawpaw and banana wine’ > ‘pawpaw and watermelon’ > ‘pawpaw, watermelon and banana’ > ‘banana and watermelon wine’. This study has shown that acceptable mixed fruit wines could be produced from the fruits with S. cerevisiae from palm wine.
Highlights
Fruit juices are fermented to produce wine, an alcoholic beverage
Fermenting banana juice into wine is considered to be an attractive means of utilizing surplus banana, since the consumption of banana wine provides a rich source of vitamins and ensures harnessing of the fruits into a useful by-product (Obaedo and Ikenebomeh 2009)
This paper reports the production and the quality of wine made from mixed fruits of banana, pawpaw and watermelon using S. cerevisiae isolated from palm wine
Summary
Fruit juices are fermented to produce wine, an alcoholic beverage. The banana fruit can be eaten raw or cooked (e.g. deep fried, dehydrated, baked in its skin or steamed), processed into flour or fermented for the production of beverages such as banana juice, beer (e.g. mbege brewed by the Chagga people in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania), vinegar and wine (Pillay et al 2004; Nelson et al 2006; Pillay and Tripathi 2007). Banana has a short shelf-life under the prevailing temperature and humidity condition in tropical countries, including Nigeria This results to wastage of the fruits as a result of poor handling and inadequate storage facilities (Akubor et al 2003; Wall 2006). Fermenting banana juice into wine is considered to be an attractive means of utilizing surplus banana, since the consumption of banana wine provides a rich source of vitamins and ensures harnessing of the fruits into a useful by-product (Obaedo and Ikenebomeh 2009)
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