Title: Wood chips: An alternative to wooden barrels for maturation of wild apricot vinegar

Biography:

Somesh Sharma is an alumnus of Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, HP, India. He is currently working as Associate Professor in School of Bioengineering and Food Technology, Shoolini University. His chief interests lie in food processing, food fermentation, food industry waste utilization, Post-harvest management of horticultural crops for sustainable development of rural population residing in Western Himalayan region. Another important contribution and achievement is the development of complete technology for the utilization of persimmon fruits for production of functional beverage.  During last seven years he has filled 11 patents related to development of various kinds of fruit and vegetable based products and waste utilization.

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: Fruit vinegar is a fermented beverage from at least one kind of fruit. These vinegars are a rich source of disease-fighting phytochemicals such as polyphenols, flavonoids and also contain citric, malic, lactic, succinic, fumaric and tartaric acid. All fruit vinegars primarily contain acetic acid as the main organic acid. Production of high quality fruit vinegar depends on some of the major factors such as the choice of raw materials and the method of acetification. Fruit vinegars are considered superior than the other vinegars in term of sensory and nutritional qualities. Hence, in the present investigations the wild apricot fruit from the western Himalayan region of India was selected as a raw material. The fruit collected were analysed for various physicochemical and phytochemical components and found rich in total phenols, carotenoids and antioxidants.  Further, the alcoholic and acetic acid fermentation was optimized for the production of quality fruit vinegar from wild fruit. The alcoholic fermentation of the must was found best in treatment prepared with 14^oB initial total soluble solids. Further, the vinegar was produced using submerged fermentation using an inoculum of Acetobacter aceti. Further, the prepared vinegar was matured similar to wine maturation. But instead of oak wood barrels the wood chips of different woods such as Quercus leucotrichophora, Bombax ceiba and Acacia spp. were tried for maturation. Since, in western Himalayan region felling of oak wood trees is banned, hence, the use of wood chips during aging of wine or vinegar can be one of the alternative.