Preparation and evaluation of custard apple wine: Effect of dilution of pulp on physico-chemical and sensory quality characteristics

Custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) is one of the important fruit crop growing wild on Deccan Plateau and some parts of Central India. The fruits are soft granular, juicy with mild flavour. It is one of the delicious and nutritionally valuable fruit. In the present study, an attempt was made to prepare wine from custard apple pulp. The fruit pulp was extracted manually. Must was prepared by diluting the pulp with water viz. 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4, were kept with and without 0.1% diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAHP) as a source of nitrogen. To the must KMS was added @125ppm. Fermentation was conducted with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus. Upon fermentation TSS, reducing and total sugars and pH decreased, whereas alcohol and titrable acidity increased. The fermentation of must was completed on 12th day in 1: 2 and 1: 3 dilution with DAHP. The must prepared with 1: 4 dilution and DAHP recorded higher alcohol content (8.14 v/v), low reducing (1.91%) and total sugars (5.53%), titrable acidity (0.56%), phenols (231.66 μg/ml) and pH (3.72) during fermentation. Treatment 1: 4 dilution with DAHP had the highest rate of fermentation (1.32 ^oB/24 hours), whereas, treatment 1:3 dilution without DAHP gave the least fermentation rate (1.25 ^oB/24 hours). The fermentation efficiency was maximum (88.05%) in 1:3 dilution with DAHP and was minimum (79.98%) in 1:2 dilution without DAHP. In the sensory quality evaluation, the overall acceptability of wine made with 1: 4 dilution with DAHP was rated as good followed by 1: 4 dilution without DAHP as fair. It was concluded that custard apple fruit can also be converted into wine of acceptable quality.