Studies on Value-added Fermentation of Madhucalatifolia Flower and Itspotential as a Nutrabeverage

Abstract

For the past centuries, mahua flowers have been known for the production of distilled liquor by the tribal and rural people of India, which is hazardous to health. Production of wine from mahua flowers is uncommon. The main aim was to improve the traditional brewing process to produce a fermented product with low alcohol content enriched with nutraceuticals. The mahua must was blended with guava and fermentation was set at 18ºC, 25ºC and 30ºC. The most favourable ratio of oBrix :titratable acidity (o6:0.56 %) was found in mahua-guava product fermented at 25oC. The alcohol content of the product was 8.0 - 9.0 % with higher alcohol content of 0.03, <0.01 and <0.01 % w/w for C3, C4 and C5 respectively. The potential of mahua as a nutrabeverage was evaluated for the first time on the basis of total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant value. The TPC of the blended product was 171.83 ± 5.21 mg GAE/L and showed the highest antioxidant activity of 96.5 % and 89.6 % with ABTS and DPPH assays respectively. In our study, the mahua-guava product showed higher degree of protection against lipid peroxidation. Thus, these blending approaches could be adopted for the improvement of the antioxidant potential of mahua-based fortified products which could solve the problem of low quality traditional beverages by enhancing the nutritional value of the final product, mask the unpleasant flavour of mahua product and improve the texture of the product. Currently, several beverages and food products are marketed based on their antioxidant capacity; mahua guava blended product has the potential to be presented in the lucrative market for their high antioxidant activity.