HARNESSING THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF PAWPAW AND PINEAPPLE FRUITS FOR PILOT SCALE PRODUCTION OF WINE

Fermenting blended fruits has been observed to have positive cumulative health benefits. Pawpaw and Pineapple have well-known nutritive and health benefits. This study evaluated the role of fermentation on the nutritional and anti-nutritional compositions of pawpaw-pineapple juice blends using single and mixed starter cultures. Fermentation of pawpaw-pineapple juice blends in varying ratios: 1:1, 1:3 and 3:1 tagged Samples A, B, and C respectively was performed for five days after which the nutritional and anti-nutritional compositions were analyzed using standard methods. The findings revealed an increase in the concentration of all the proximate parameters except carbohydrate. The results also showed that sample A was better in nutritive quality than sample B and C by 8.55% and 3.92% respectively. The mono-cultural fermentation of sample A by Saccharomyces cerevisiae yielded the highest nutritional value (30.12%) as compared to mixed (25.35%) and single culture fermentation of Lactobacillus delbreukii (23.40%) and Leuconostoc mesenteroides (21.13%). The mineral composition of sample A (37.60%) with respect to organism was also observed to be significantly higher than sample B (28.82%) and C (33.58%). Overall, the single culture of S. cerevisiae gave the highest mineral output in all the blended ratios. The levels of the anti-nutrients were better reduced by a single culture of S. cerevisiae. Furthermore, the mono-cultural fermentation of sample A by S. cerevisiae produced the highest alcoholic content. Mono-cultural fermentation of pawpaw-pineapple juice in ratio 1:1 by S. cerevisiae is most efficient in obtaining the highest nutritional value and alcoholic content in pawpaw-pineapple wine.