ABSTRACT

Mead is a fermented alcoholic beverage that is made from honey, water, and often other flavoring agents such as fruits, herbs, or spices. It has various health benefits in humans and is enjoyed by a diverse range of people. Because it is gluten free alcoholic beverage, it an attractive option for consumers looking for gluten-free beverages. Thus, an attempt was made to prepare mead from different floral honey and optimize fermentative parameters for the development of floral mead. The different floral honey like Acacia honey, Lavender honey, Sunflower honey, Orange blossom honey and commercial honey used for the study were procured through online platforms. Yeast strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae MTCC 178 was procured from the Microbial Type Culture Collection (MTCC), Chandigarh.
The physicochemical properties of the different floral honey were analyzed to know its quality and composition. Different floral mead and combinations were prepared and its phenol content, reducing sugar, alcohol content, and antioxidant were estimated. Based on these parameters and sensory evaluation, the treatments of Lavender mead and combination of Lavender + Sunflower mead was selected for further optimization. Optimizing parameters of Lavender mead (14 days of fermentation, 35oC temperature, 3% of inoculums level and 4.5 pH) and combination of Lavender + Sunflower mead (4% of inoculums, 16 days of fermentation, 35oC temperature and 3.5 pH) alcohol of 9.05% and 9.20% respectively were produced. Lavender + Sunflower mead was selected and scaled up to 3 litres. With optimised parameters alcohol content of 9.16 % %, a residual reducing sugar level of 6.41 mg/ml, total antioxidant activity of 79.18% and polyphenol content of 291.23 mg GAE/L was achieved. The findings of this indicate that unifloral honey such as Lavender and combination of Lavender + Sunflower honey can be used for mead preparation with unique qualities and potential health benefits.