Abstract:
This study was carried out to examine the chemical properties and antioxidant activities of vinegars produced from four cultivars of pineapple, namely Homsuwan, Huamui, Pattavia and Tradsrithong. Sensory evaluation of the vinegars was also included in this study using the 9-point hedonic scale to measure the vinegar preferences of consumers based on flavor, sweetness, sour color and overall acceptability. Vinegar fermentation was performed by inoculating 10% (v/v) of Acetobacter pasteurianus into each of four pineapple wines with the initial alcohol content adjusted to 10% (v/v). The fermentation was conducted for 15 days at ambient temperature and sampling was performed at 5-day intervals. It was observed for all samples that the levels of alcohol decreased continuously over the fermentation period, which was consistent to the increased levels of total acidity content. It was obvious that the highest level (3.09+0.04%) of total acidity content was observed for the vinegar produced from Tradsrithong cultivar, followed by Huamui cultivar (2.82+0.26%). The vinegar produced from Pattavia cultivar was shown to exhibit the highest antioxidant activity (89.82+0.83%), followed by Huamui cultivar (84.62+1.74%). As with the consumer hedonic scale, it was found that the drinking vinegar produced from Huamui cultivar had the highest overall acceptability with an average score of 6.20+1.69, which however was equivalent to the hedonic scale of 9 that indicated low levels of the drinking vinegar preferences of the consumers.