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.