WINE PRODUCTION FROM MIXED FRUITS BLEND (PINEAPPLE AND BANANA) USING SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE ISOLATED FROM PALM WINE

Wine is any alcoholic beverage produced from juices of variety of fruits by fermentation action of microorganisms either spontaneously or seeded with a particular strain mainly of yeast species to adopt a particular quality of wine. In this study, Pineapple (Ananas comosus) and Banana (Musa sapientum) were used for table wine production using yeast isolated from palm wine (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The isolation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae from palm wine, fermentation of the mixed blend fruits; pineapple and banana, and determination of physicochemical parameters were carried out in this study using standard procedures. Fruit wine was produced from must formulated by mixing 10% (w/v) Banana (Musa sapientum), with pineapple (Ananas comosus) juice at the ratio of 1:3. The must was inoculated with a pure strain of Saccharomyces spp. isolated from fresh fermented palm wine. The must was fermented for 18 days followed by clarification, racking and ageing, during which the pH, titrable acidity, specific gravity, alcohol content and reducing sugar were determined at intervals using standard procedures. Specific gravity of the wine was observed to reduce as the fermentation proceeded from 1.0401 to 1.0046. The pH of the must during the period of fermentation reduced from 4.30 to 3.62. During the fermentation period, consistent increase in alcohol content was observed with time. At the end of the 18th day of fermentation, the alcohol content of the wine was observed to be 4% with a light golden- yellow coloration. This study showed that wine can be produced from mixed blend fruits using yeast isolated from palm wine (Saccharomyces spp.), to produce acceptable colored wine.