Alcohol Fermentation of Opuntia ficus Fruit Juice

  • Published : 2000.03.01

Abstract

Prickly pear juice(PPJ) extracted from prickly pear fruit (Opuntia ficus-indica)was used as raw material for the production of alcoholic beverages. Prickly pear juice (PPJ) had 0.88 oBrix of soluble solid, pH 3.96 and 0.14% of total acidity. Alcohol fermentation of 25% PPJ including 22 oBrix of sugar and 1$\times$106 of inoculum was suitable for alcohol fermentation indicating the rapid decrease of sugar content. The 22 oBrix of sugar in PPJ (25%)GJ (50%) mixture was changed to 6.5 oBrix after fermentation at 3$0^{\circ}C$ for 7 days. The alcohol content was 9.2% (w/v). PPJ (70%)/GJ (30%) mixture produced alcoholic beverage with 6.9% alcohol content resulting in the gradual decrease of soluble for 7 days. On the other hand, PPJ (50%)/GJ(50%) mixture carried out completely the alcohol fermentation at 22$^{\circ}C$ for 6 days and enhanced the red color of alcoholic beverages.

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