Studies on utilization of wild apricot for vinegar production

Abstract

newline xii newlineABSTRACT newlineWild apricot (Pruns armeniaca L.) is an important fruit tree species found in the dry, temperate region of North Western Himalayas. The fruits are highly perishable and lot of fresh produce goes waste in the glut season. Further, the high acidity of the fruit is also one of the reasons for its under utilization as a fresh fruit commodity. Hence, a study was designed to utilize a fruit for some value added product development especially vinegar. Thus, in the present investigations, fruits collected from District Mandi and Shimla of Himachal Pradesh were analyzed for various physicochemical characteristics. Based on the analysis the wild apricot fruit collected from District Mandi had an edge over the fruits collected from District Shimla in terms of total soluble solids, total phenols, pulp content, carotenoids and antioxidant activity. Further, the fruits also contain various phytochemicals such as reducing sugar, alkaloid, saponin, tannin and terpnoid. Among the different base wines prepared, with different concentrations of initial sugar (10ºB, 12ºB and 14 ºB) content, with or without pectin estrase enzyme and fermented naturally or inoculated with a starter culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae var ellipsoideus, the base wine (T3E2F2) prepared with 14ºB initial sugar content, pectin esterase and fermented with S. cerevisae was adjudged as the best for vinegar production on the basis of fermentability, rate of fermentation and various physico chemical characteristics. The optimization of the acetic acid fermentation for vinegar production was done using response surface methodology (RSM) by applying central composite design (CCD). The three different variables used were the inoculum concentration, nitrogen source and temperature of fermentation for acetification of wild apricot base wine. On the basis of various physico chemical and sensory characteristics, run having 7 per cent inoculum of Acetobacter aceti, 1 per cent DAHP as nitrogen source and 30oC temperature of fermentation was rated as the best for wild apricot vinegar production in submerged fermentation. Further, the prepared vinegar was matured with different wood chips (Quercus leucotrichophora, Bombax ceiba and Acacia spp.) for a period of nine months. Among the different wood chips, the vinegar matured with wood chips of Quercus leucotrichophora was rated as the best on the basis of various physico chemical and sensory characterstics. The particular treatment was also found rich in various polyphenols as compared to other vinegars matured with different newlinexiii newlinewood chips. Seasoned vinegar was also prepared using three different recipes and the recipe S2Vcontaining (g/100ml) 5g salt , 5g pepper, 6g cumin, 5g ginger ,3g clove, 2g cinnamon, 4g large cardamom and 10 ml honey was adjudged as the best on the basis of various chemical and sensory characteristics. Hence, from the present studies, it can be concluded that fruit vinegar can be one of the alternatives to utilize this wild fruit crop for increasing the income source of rural villagers and adding variety to human diet. newlineKey words: Wild apricot (Prunus armeniaca Linn),total polyphenols, total flavonoids, alcoholic fermentation, acetic acid fermentation, vinegar, seasoned vinegar.