Utilization of bee (Apis mellifera) honey for vinegar production at laboratory scale

RESUMO

Vinegar was obtained from bee (Apis mellifera) honey. The wort was prepared by diluting honey in distilled water to 21 per cent total solids and by adding ammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphate. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was inoculated to the wort (4 g/L). Ethanol production was carried out at room temperature during 84 hours. In this study, 1 Kg of honey yielded about 5 L of wine, containing 8 per cent alcohol (v/v), from a wort with 17.11 per cent total sugars (w/v). The efficiency of the alcoholic fermentation was 81.34 per cent. The acetic fermentation with an inoculum of mixed acetic microorganisms was performed by quick process in a 15 L vertical fermenter. This resulted in a vinegar containing up to 9 per cent of acetic acid (w/v) and about 1 per cent of alcohol (v/v). The acetic fermentation yielded between 91.24 and 97.21 per cent. Approximately 5 L of honey vinegar with 9 per cent acetic acid (w/v) were obtained from 1 Kg of bee honey. All attributes of honey vinegar showed acceptability index over 70 per cent 95.37 per cent for appearance, 94.81 per cent for color, 79.07 per cent for odor and 75.56 per cent for flavor, indicating it would show good consumer acceptability.