Anotace:
Fermenting blended fruits has been observed to have positive cumulative health benefits. Pawpaw and Pineapple have well-known nutritive and health benefits. This study evaluated the role of fermentation on the nutritional and anti-nutritional compositions of pawpaw-pineapple juice blends using single and mixed starter cultures. Fermentation of pawpaw-pineapple juice blends in varying ratios: 1:1, 1:3 and 3:1 tagged Samples A, B, and C respectively was performed for five days after which the nutritional and anti-nutritional compositions were analyzed using standard methods. The findings revealed an increase in the concentration of all the proximate parameters except carbohydrate. The results also showed that sample A was better in nutritive quality than sample B and C by 8.55% and 3.92% respectively. The mono-cultural fermentation of sample A by Saccharomyces cerevisiae yielded the highest nutritional value (30.12%) as compared to mixed (25.35%) and single culture fermentation of Lactobacillus delbreukii (23.40%) and Leuconostoc mesenteroides (21.13%). The mineral composition of sample A (37.60%) with respect to organism was also observed to be significantly higher than sample B (28.82%) and C (33.58%). Overall, the single culture of S. cerevisiae gave the highest mineral output in all the blended ratios. The levels of the anti-nutrients were better reduced by a single culture of S. cerevisiae. Furthermore, the mono-cultural fermentation of sample A by S. cerevisiae produced the highest alcoholic content. Mono-cultural fermentation of pawpaw-pineapple juice in ratio 1:1 by S. cerevisiae is most efficient in obtaining the highest nutritional value and alcoholic content in pawpaw-pineapple wine.