INFLUENCE OF PRE-TREATMENT ON THE MICROBIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF WINE PRODUCED FROM OVERRIPE PLANTAIN

Abstract

Wine is essential in every celebration but it is very expensive in countries where grape is not grown. Agadagidi, an effervescent wine analogue with sweet-sour taste is locally produced from overripe plantain which is abundant in the Tropics. This research produced agadagidi by sulphiting the must with or without inoculating with Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain isolated from spontaneous fermentation. Some of the samples were also pasteurized with a view to producing agadagidi with consistent quality. Microorganisms were enumerated, isolated and identified during storage, sugars, pH, TTA and sensory properties were also assessed using standard methods. The result showed that the range of TVC, LAB, and fungi count were 5.571 – 9.076 log cfu/ml, 2.717- 9.253 log cfu/ml and 4.079 - 9.418 log cfu/ml respectively. Microorganisms isolated were Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces bayanus, Pichia kluyveri, Candida albicans, Bacillus pumilus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus subtilis and Leuconostoc oenos. The reducing sugar was higher in unpasteurized samples than pasteurized sample at the beginning of storage. Total sugar generally decreased while the TTA increased during storage. The sensory score showed that all unpasteurized samples and pasteurized sample without isolate and sulphite were accepted by the panelists. This study therefore suggests the use of sulphite with or without starter culture in the production of agadagidi with consistent quality.