Fruits and fermentation methods are important sources of organic acids that determine organoleptic properties, microbiological and biochemical stability of fruit wines. This study is aimed at investigating total titrable acidity and organic acids of fruit wines produced by response surface optimization of cactus pear and Lantana camara fruits blend and cactus pear fruit alone. The predictive mathematical model of the blended fruit wine is well fitted (R 2 = 0.9618 and absolute average deviation (AAD) = 2.06%). The optimum values of fermentation temperature, inoculum concentration, and Lantana camara fruitjuice concentration to produce predictive total titrable acidity of 0.8% (w/v citric acid) were 24°C, 10% (v/v), and 10.7% (v/v), respectively. The blended fruit wine was with lower total titrable acidity (w/v citric acid) of 0.83 ± 0.058% compared to wine produced from cactus pear fruit alone 1.06 ± 0.27%. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of both produced wines revealed the difference in concentration of citric (±3.35 mg/ml), L-tartaric (± 3.71 mg/ml), and L-ascorbic acid (± 0.07 mg/ml). Citric acid was predominant organic acid in both fruit wines, and its content in the cactus pear is 7.09 ± 0.07 mg/ml and blended fruit wine 4.74 ± 0.07 mg/ml.
Keywords: Lantana camara fruit; cactus pear; organic acid; response surface optimization; wine fermentation.
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