Production and Microbiological Assesment of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Fruit Wine

Aim of the Study: This study was undertaken to assess the possibility of using date palm fruit (Phoneix dactylifera L.) for wine production.
Study Design: Good quality, fresh and dried date fruit were gotten from Kankia village in Kastina State, Northen Nigeria, sliced to remove the seed and macerated using sterilised blender to give 8.5 kg of crushed date palm fruit used for the production.
Place and Duration: Date palm fruit (Phoneix dactylifera L.) wine production was studied from March to August, 2014 in Salem University Microbiology Laboratory, Lokoja, Nigeria.
Methodology: Date fruit wine was produced by fermenting the fruit must with Saccharomyces cerevisiaefrom Guangxi Danbaoli, China aerobically for 6 days with even stirring of the must twice daily and anaerobically for four weeks at 28±2°C. During both fermentation processes, the changes in pH, Titratable Acidity (TTA), sugar content, alcohol content, specific gravity, total yeast counts and total heterotrophic counts were monitored.
Results: During the aerobic fermentation, the pH dropped from 5.7 to 4.3, titratable acidity increased from 0.23 to 0.65, there was a notable decrease in the specific gravity from 1.070 sp.gr to 1.026, Alcohol content increased from 0 to 5.5%, Sugar content dropped from 17 to 0%, total yeast counts increased from 4.69×102to 15.39×102 viable cells/ml while total heterotrophic bacterial count ranged from 2.0 to 9.0 cfu/ml.Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus spp. were encountered. During anaerobic fermentation pH ranged increased from 4.3 to 4.6, TTA decreased from 0.65 to 0.30. There was a notable decrease in the specific gravity from 1.070 sp.gr to 1.026 sp.gr while during anaerobic fermentation, there was a slight change in the specific gravity from 1.026 sp.gr to 1.025 sp.gr. Yeast population dropped from 8.90×102 viable cells/ml to 0.92×102 cells/ml at the end of week 2, sugar was not detected and the final percentage alcohol was 9.2%. Sensory evaluation shows 71.8% acceptance compared to imported white wine (78.3%). This study has shown the probability of using date palm fruit as raw material for fruit wine production.