Nutrient Composition and Physicochemical Characteristics of Mead Produced from African Breadfruit, Barley and Wheat Worts

Abstract

The nutritional and physicochemical characteristics of meads produced from malted African breadfruit, barley and wheat were investigated. One and half kilogram of each malt sample was milled separately to grits. The grits were defatted by solvent extraction. African breadfruit grits was defatted to final fat content of 0.79%. Original dark honey was filtered to remove particulate materials. The yeast strain - Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Lalvin K1-V1116) inoculum was prepared by rehydration to obtain 108 CFU/ml. The experiment was designed into four treatments: blends I, II, III and control. Exactly 2g of the yeast inoculum was pitched into the wort blends and stirred. The worts were fermented and the final gravity (FG) determined.  Macronutrients and Vitamins (Vits) contents in the mead samples were evaluated using the methods described in the  Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC, 2006). The protein content increased by 2.19%, 0.29% and 0.98% for African breadfruit, barley and wheat malts respectively. Mead produced from barley and wheat showed a significant increase in vitamin C content and compared with the traditional honey mead. The vitamins contents of mead from African breadfruit reduced significantly to 0.69 IU/ml (Vit. A), 0.83 mg/l (Vit. B1), 23.64 mg/l (Vit. B₃) and 36.72 mg/l (Vit. C), compared with its unfermented wort, 0.79 IU/ml (Vit. A), 3.67 mg/l (B₁ ), 32.67 mg/l (Vit. B₃ ) and 69.61 mg/l (Vit. C). Ethanol contents were significantly (p<0.05) different between mead samples. The meads produced were rated high in sensory quality and possessed potential health and nutritional benefits.