Abstract:
Recently, there has been a shift to a healthier lifestyle, fuelling the demand for healthier food products. This is a welcome development for the Philippines, which has a high rate of non-communicable diseases. Therefore, here, we aimed to develop a new healthy beverage by infusing mango (Mangiferaindica) wine with Rangoon creeper (Quisqualisindica) flower tea (RCFT). The effects of floral infusion on the fermentation, physicochemical properties and sensory characteristics of mango wine were determined through microbiological and physicochemical tests, and sensory evaluation. The factors were time of infusion (i.e., fermentation, racking, and both fermentation and racking) and RCFT concentration [i.e., 0.1, 1.0, and 2.0% (w/v)]. Significantly lower total microbial and yeast counts were observed for the RCFT-infused fermenting musts than for the control, regardless of RCFT concentration. However, no significant differences were observed in the physicochemical properties between the control and RCFT-infused fermenting musts. Fermentation duration was observed to be shorter for the infused wines than for the control. RCFT infusion at 0.1% generally increased the antioxidant activity of the infused mango wine, although not at levels significantly different from that of the control wine; the same process at 1 and 2% generally decreased it. Moreover, RCFT infusion significantly increased the aroma, color, clarity, and astringency ratings of the infused wine. In spite of these, sweetness, alcoholic taste or general acceptability showed no significant difference among the wine samples. RCFT infusion clearly improves some of the functional and sensory properties of mango wine, without significantly affecting the physicochemical properties of the fermenting musts. Therefore, with optimization of the infusion process, floral infusion may show high potential in improving the commerciability of mango wine for the consumer market owing to its ability to improve the sensory attributes as well as to shorten the production duration of the wine. |
