Fermentation of three varieties of mango juices with a mixture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Williopsis saturnus var. mrakii Xiao Li a , Li Jie Chan a , Bin Yu b , Philip Curran b , Shao-Quan Liu a, ⁎ a Food Science and Technology Programme, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore b Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd, Tuas, Singapore 638377, Singapore abstract article info Article history: Received 19 March 2012 Received in revised form 14 June 2012 Accepted 21 June 2012 Available online 2 July 2012 Keywords: Mango Wine Yeasts Volatiles Flavor This study was carried out to ascertain the behavior and fermentation performance of mixed yeasts in mango juices of three varieties. Saccharomyces cerevisiae MERIT.ferm and Williopsis saturnus var. mrakii NCYC500 at a ratio of 1:1000 were simultaneously inoculated into juices of three mango (Mangifera indica L.) varieties (R2E2, Harum Manis and Nam Doc Mai). Both yeasts grew well in all juices and there was no early growth arrest of either yeast, but there was late death of W. saturnus var. mrakii NCYC500 in the Nam Doc Mai juice. Fructose, glucose and sucrose were consumed to trace levels in all juices. Changes in citric, tartaric, malic, acetic and succinic acids varied with mango varieties. While the changes of major volatiles were sim- ilar in all varieties, there were significant varietal differences in the volatile composition of the resultant mango wines. The volatiles, especially most of the terpenes, of the juices decreased drastically and new vol- atiles such as β-citronellol were formed. R2E2 wine had more fruity, sweet and creamy notes, and retained more of its original character due to a higher retention of ketones/lactones. Harum Manis wine had the lowest aroma intensity with more green and terpenic notes associated with higher levels of residual terpenes than the other two varieties. Nam Doc Mai wine possessed the highest aroma intensity with winey, yeasty, fruity and floral notes attributed to higher amounts of alcohols, acetate esters and ethyl esters. These findings may help develop different styles of mango wine. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most popular and abundant tropical fruits in Southeast Asia and is often in oversupply after each harvest. Some researchers have explored wine-making with mango (Reddy and Reddy, 2005; Pino and Queris, 2011; Li et al., 2011; Sadineni et al., 2011). Reddy and Reddy (2005) used monocultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) together with pectinase to fer- ment the mango musts from six varieties, and the final wines reached ~9–11% (v/v) ethanol and their aromatic components were comparable in concentration to those of grape wine. Kumar et al. (2009) employed the response surface methodology to optimize the fermentation condi- tions of monocultures of Saccharomyces bayanus (temperature, pH, in- oculum levels, etc.) and demonstrated the optimization effects on the production of ethanol, glycerol, and volatile acidity. Li et al. (2011, 2012) noted the differentiation of the chemical and volatile composi- tions of mango wines fermented with monocultures of S. cerevisiae and Williopsis saturnus var. mrakii (W. mrakii). Wine produced by monocultures of Saccharomyces often lacks com- plexity of flavor and character, but monocultures of non-Saccharomyces are sometimes related to low SO 2 resistance, low fermentation power and off-odor (e.g. over-production of acetic acid, ethyl acetate and acetal- dehyde) (Ciani et al., 2010). However, in controlled mixed-culture fer- mentation, these enological disadvantages of non-Saccharomyces might not be expressed or may be modified by Saccharomyces, and the advantages of having both kinds of yeast might be properly manifested. Recently, more studies highlighted the positive roles of non-Saccharomyces in spontaneous or controlled mixed-culture fer- mentation. Some non-Saccharomyces species could improve the com- plexity and enhance the particular and specific characteristics of wines such as aroma profile, acid reduction and increased glycerol in mixed-culture fermentations (Ciani and Ferraro, 1996; Soden et al., 2000; Viana et al., 2009; Sadineni et al., 2011). W. mrakii (formerly Hansenula mrakii) yeast strains are known as efficient producers of fruity or floral acetate esters such as isoamyl acetate and 2-phenylethyl acetate important to wine aroma (Yilmaztekin et al., 2008; Li et al., 2012) and the strain was used in sake to improve its fruity character (Inoue et al., 1994). Some researchers have started to co-culture Saccharomyces and Williopsis to improve wine fruitiness and complexity (Erten and Tanguler, 2010; Lee et al., 2011). However, the growth of many non-Saccharomyces species is limited to the first few days of mixed-culture fermentation (Pretorius, 2000), and the same situation also happened in the case of Williopsis (Erten and Tanguler, 2010). The phenomenon may seriously affect the contribu- tion of non-Saccharomyces to wine complexity. International Journal of Food Microbiology 158 (2012) 28–35 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +65 6516 2687; fax: +65 6775 7895. E-mail address: chmLsq@nus.edu.sg (S.-Q. Liu). 0168-1605/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2012.06.015 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Food Microbiology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfoodmicro