Sharma Somesh, Thakur Aman Deep, Chauhan Pankaj Kumar, Nagraik Rupak, Sharma Avinash, Kumar Dinesh, Thakur Nitika
Keywords:
Pumpkin, Table wine, Herbs, Quality, Antioxidants, Phenols, Esters
Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) is an important tropical vegetable found all around the world. In the present study, herbal enriched pumpkin wines were prepared using 1% pectinase, 0.50% acidulant and honey as sugar source along with the different concentration of dried herbs such as ginger (Zingiber officinale), basil leaves (Ocimum sanctum), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) and their combinations. The herbal enriched pumpkin musts were fermented at a temperature of 28 °C. Further, on the basis of physicochemical and sensory characteristics, the treatment with Ocimum sanctum (basil leaves) 1% (T1) was adjudged as best. The wine had many desirable quality attributes such as a higher concentration of esters, phenols and low level of volatile acidity. The sensory scores also revealed that the herbal wine with basil leaves had high acceptability, with a moderate level of DPPH radical’s scavenging activity value. The wine prepared using Zingiber officinale and G. glabra (GM4) had the highest DPPH radical’s scavenging activity value (84%) and hence will scavenge more free radicals and is beneficial for health. It can be concluded that pumpkin as a base wine holds promise for the preparation of quality herbal enriched pumpkin table wine.
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The authors acknowledge the School of Bioengineering and Food Technology, Shoolini University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India for providing research facilities.