Development and characterization of new fermented beverages of low alcoholic graduation from strawberry

Nowadays, the oenological market tends to the diversification through the development of new original and enriched products. Thus, the study here proposed pretends the elaboration and characterization of new "wine-type" beverages based on the use of berries, resulting in products with added value due to the increase in their content of bioactive compounds. Strawberry is a fruit with a great economic relevance in Spain, being the first producer and exporter country in Europe. On the other hand, a large amounts of surplus from this fruit are obtained and destined to industrial purposes every year. Taking into account this, the main objective of this work has been to study the possibility of providing another utility to these surpluses, as well as to diversify the wine production towards new elaborations that could be adapted to the markets. Therefore, the transformation of this surplus from strawberry in more durable new products via fermentation could be an economically viable solution for the industry and producers. These new products would allow tasting the fragrance and exquisiteness of strawberries in form of a beverage elaborated on the basis of traditional procedures for winemaking. For this, a puree of strawberry of 7 º Brix was mixed with water and sugar to reach 12 º Brix in order to obtain a fermented product with an alcoholic graduation between 6-7 º. Periodic controls of density, temperature, pH, acidity, and ºBrix were performed during the vinification process. At the end of this process, potassium metabisulfite was added to stabilize the product. The "strawberry wine" obtained was characterized by the determination of parameters related to organoleptic, nutritional and nutraceutical quality (phenolic and volatile profile, acids and sugars, antioxidant capacity and color parameters). The results obtained were compared with those of samples of commercial fruit wines (elderberry, blackcurrant and cherry)