Microbiological Preparation Of Non-Alcoholic Naturally Carbonated Beverage from Guava and Its Blends with Lemon

A pure yeast isolate Clavispora lusitaniae from whey beverage, phenotypically and molecularly characterized was used to develop a reliable, controllable and reproducible technology for preparation of non-alcoholic beverage from guava var. Allahabad Safeda and its blends with lemon var. Citrus latifolia. The fermentation conditions and process parameters optimized were TSS 15°B, pH 4.2, acidity 0.22%, juice 15 per cent for guava beverage and TSS 15°B, pH 3.0, acidity 0.29%, juice 12.5 per cent for guava: lemon (1: 1) beverage. The specific growth rate (h⁻¹) and generation time (h) of yeast in guava beverage were 0.39 and 1.77 respectively. The physico chemical and microbiological characteristics of guava var. Allahabad Safeda beverage were pH 3.9, TSS 11.7 ^°B, acidity 0.53%, ascorbic acid 13.5 mg/100ml, alcohol (%v/v) 0.89, CO2 1.53 bar and total plate count 33x10⁹ cfu/ml with a shelf life of 75 days and guava: lemon (1: 1) beverage were pH 2.8, TSS 12.73⁰B, acidity 0.61%, ascorbic acid 5.3 mg/100ml, alcohol (%v/v) 0.98, CO2 1.50 bar and total plate count 28x10⁹ cfu/ml with a shelf life of 90 days under refrigerated conditions (4 ^°C). The beverage scored liked very much due to naturally produced CO2 during fermentation that added effervescence, sparkle and tangy taste to the beverage.