Mead production with addition of jabuticaba peel extract at high cell concentrations:Evaluation of the kinetics, aromatic profile and antioxidant capacity

• Grant number: 23/13835-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Process Industries
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Ramos de Andrade
• Grantee: Gustavo Camanho Bender
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas (ICAQF). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Diadema. Diadema , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Mead is an alcoholic beverage that has great potential for growth in itscommercialization, but its production is still done empirically. In this project, the meadfermentation with the addition of jaboticaba peel extract (JPE) will be investigated. TheJPE addition in the fermentation medium potentially leads to a beverage with differentaroma, and high antioxidant capacity, due to the presence of anthocyanins in itscomposition. Anthocyanins protect against degenerative diseases, inhibit the growth ofcancer cells, having a great impact on human health. In a previous project, our researchgroup found that the culture medium with JPE addition showed good fermentability,resulting in fermentations with high substrate conversions. In this project, we intend toinvestigate how much it is possible to reduce the fermentation time when using highinitial cell concentrations, to determine the antioxidant activity and to identify the mainvolatile compounds in the final product. The use of high cell density potentially resultsin more rapid fermentations, and reduces the production costs, but this impacts on thefinal composition of the mead, and consequently, on its quality. Thus, we intend toperform fermentations in a bioreactor, at 5 different levels of initial cell concentration,and for each condition: (i) determine the fermentation performance (instantaneousvelocities of substrate consumption, ethanol formation and microbial growth, substrateconversion and reaction time), (ii) analyze the formation of the main volatilecompounds, which brings aromatic characteristics to the beverage, (iii) determine theconcentrations of ethanol, acetic acid, residual sugars, anthocyanins and antioxidantactivity in the final beverage. It is expected, with the development of this project, toimprove the fermentation performance, without any loss in the quality of the beverage,and to obtain a product with high antioxidant capacity, and with ethanol and acetic acidcontent within the limits stipulated by Brazilian legislation. Still, we intend toinvestigate how much the antioxidant activity remains in the final product.