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Fruit juice offers a fresh take on kombucha

Fruit juice offers a fresh take on kombucha
2024-09-27
(Press-News.org) Kombucha is a fizzy, tangy drink made by fermenting tea. But brewers are now fermenting other plant-based drinks to explore nutritional properties and flavors. Researchers in ACS Agricultural Science & Technology compared the biochemistry and flavor of kombucha with brews made from apple and passion fruit juices. They found that the apple beverage contained high levels of bioactive compounds called flavonoids and ranked highly among taste testers, signaling its promise as a kombucha alternative.

To make kombucha, brewers ferment sweetened tea with a spongy disk of microbes known as a SCOBY, or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. The resulting beverage contains beneficial bacteria from the fermentation process and bioactive compounds from the tea, including flavonoids, phenolics and anthocyanins that may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Few studies have investigated whether liquids other than tea could be brewed as kombucha-like beverages with boosted antioxidant levels or unique flavors. So, Socorro Vanesca, Frota Gaban and coworkers fermented antioxidant-rich apple and passion fruit juices with a SCOBY to find out.

After fermenting apple juice, passion fruit juice, and tea in separate jars for 10 days at room temperature, the researchers measured the levels of several bioactive compounds in each brew and found that:

The apple beverage had the highest level of flavonoids, followed by kombucha and the passion fruit drink. The kombucha and apple beverages had comparable levels of phenolic compounds that were higher than those of the passion fruit beverage. All three brews had similar amounts of anthocyanin, a red-colored antioxidant. The researchers asked 12 volunteer taste testers to evaluate each beverage’s color, aroma and flavor. The taste testers noted an amber color for the apple beverage, yellow for passion fruit and gold for the kombucha. The volunteers reported stronger, fruitier aromas for the fermented fruit juices compared with the tea. However, the passion fruit drink tasted more bitter than the sweeter apple and tea drinks, both of which received equal votes as the favorite beverage. Because fermented apple juice has more flavonoids and a pleasant taste compared with the other beverages, the researchers say it could be a successful alternative to kombucha made from tea. They plan to explore health benefits and flavors of other fermented fruits in the future.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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Fruit juice offers a fresh take on kombucha

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[Press-News.org] Fruit juice offers a fresh take on kombucha