Production, Chemical Properties and Sensory evaluation of Wine from blends of Gaper(Vitis vinifera) fruit, Pawpaw(Carica papaya) fruit and Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus)tuber

Production of wine from sources other than grapes encourages wine makers as much asavailability of different styles of wine. Pawpaw (Carica papaya ) is a tropical fruit commonly known forits nutritional and phytochemical values.Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus) is a high-yielding, readilyavailable tuber which has lots of dietary and medicinal values. In this study, wine was produced fromdifferent blends of juice from grape (Vitis vinifera) fruit, pawpaw fruit and tiger nut tubers; and thequality of the wine evaluated. Healthy fruits and tiger nut obtained from a market in Ebonyi State,Nigeria were washed with clean water and ground with an electric blender until a homogenous pulp wasobtained. Water (100cm3) was added to equal amount of each pulp and the mixture was filtered using amuslin cloth to obtain the juice. A solution of sugar in water (200g in 70cm3), 0.90g of Saccharomycescerevisiae, ammonium phosphate (0.60g) and potassium phosphate (0.60g) were added and the mixturewas allowed to ferment for 6 days (primary fermentation). The temperature, pH, specific gravity, totaltitrable acidity, and sugar level of the sample were determined after every 12 h. The wine was rackedand allowed to ferment for 14 days (secondary fermentation). It was then left to clarify for three months.The clarified wine was left to mature for 6 months before the final physico-chemical and sensoryevaluation were carried out. The results of the analysis revealed that the temperature of all the winesamples was 28.0oC. Grape and pawpaw wine had pH of 3.70, alcohol content of 17.00%, total acidity of0.86% residual acidity of 0.32%, volatile acidity of 0.54% and specific gravity of 0.9776. Pawpaw andtiger nut wine had pH of 3.95 alcohol content of 16.06%, total acidity of 0.59%, residual acidity of0.14%, volatile acidity of 0.255 and specific gravity of 0.9810. Grape, pawpaw and tiger nut wine hadpH of 3.78, alcohol content of 17 81% total acidity of 0.72%, residual acidity of 0.30%, volatile acidityof 0.51% and specific gravity of 0.9760. Grape and tiger nut wine had pH of 3.90, alcohol content of18.65% total acidity of 0.78%, residual acidity of 0.30%, volatile acidity of 0.48% and specific gravityof 0.9745.Although these values were comparable to those reported of good fruit wines, the highestalcohol content was obtained from a blend of grape and tiger nut juice. The sensory evaluation revealedthat the attributes of the wines were acceptable to the majority of the respondents