Preparation of blended low alcoholic beverages from under-utilized millets with zero waste processing methods Khandelwal Pratima1,*, Upendra R.S.2, Kavana U.3, Sahithya S.3, Sateesh3 1Professor & Head, Department of Biotechnology, New Horizon College of Engineering, Marathahalli, Bangalore, Karnataka, India 2Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, New Horizon College of Engineering, Marathahalli, Bangalore, Karnataka, India 3BE Biotechnology students, Department of Biotechnology, New Horizon College of Engineering, Marathahalli, Bangalore, Karnataka, India *Corresponding Author: pratima2k1@gmail.com
Abstract Low-alcoholic beverages, especially those produced from fruits, are increasing in demand and are being consumed in the form of table beverages. Present investigation features development of such new table beverages using the underutilized regional millets- finger millet (ragi) and pearl millet (bajra). Alcoholic fruit beverages (fruits wines) are conventionally prepared from apples, peaches, oranges, blackberries, mangoes etc. In order to accommodate an ever-increasing demand, more wineries are starting to increase their versatility. Review of literature reveals that hardly any work that is documented on the ragi and millet based alcoholic beverages. Thus the present study was focused on utilization of underutilized millets and blending them with selected fruits to develop low alcoholic beverages with appreciable acceptability. Different blends of fruit juices (green grapes, black grapes and apple) with finger millet and pearl millet along with germinated wheat kernels as inducers were taken and fermentation was carried for a period of 8–10 days using brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Any undesirable microbial contamination was checked by adding potassium metabisulphite (KMS) @ 180 ppm. After completion, ethanol content in fermented product was analyzed and physico-chemical tests namely pH and % Titratable acidity (TA) were performed for all the samples. The microbial quality was also checked in all beverage samples. Such developed novel non alcoholic beverages were found to be acceptable and consumer friendly with appreciable shelf stability. Top Keywords Under-utilized millets, alcoholic beverages, SmF, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Zero waste processing method. Top |