Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources Vol. 3(2), June 2012, pp. 222-227 Effect of dilution and maturation on physico-chemical and sensory quality of jamun (Black plum) wine V K Joshi 1* , Rakesh Sharma 1 , Aman Girdher 2 and Ghan Shyam Abrol 1 1 Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan-173 230, Himachal Pradesh, India 2 Department of Biotechnology, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India Received 20 January 2011; Accepted 13 March 2012 Black plum or Jamun fruit [Syzygium cuminii (Linn.) Skeels] is relished for its sugar, acid and tannin content and is considered useful for curing diabetes, heart and liver troubles. The fruit has large amounts of anthocyanin and other nutrients of medicinal and therapeutic properties. To prepare jamun wine, the pulp was diluted with water in different proportions (1:0.5, 1:1 and 1:2). The diluted pulp was ameliorated with sugar (24°B), 100 ppm SO 2 , 0.5% pectinase enzyme and DAHP (0.1%). The must was fermented with pure wine yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus (5% v/v) at 22±1°C. Jamun must prepared by dilution (1:2) gave better fermentation behaviour than the other two treatments. With the increase in dilution level, ethanol content and total esters increased while total soluble solids, titratable acidity, sugars and anthocyanin content decreased. All the wines were matured for a year and then, evaluated for various physico-chemicals and sensory quality characteristics. TSS of jamun wine of different dilutions ranged from 8.6 to 10°B. Jamun fruit wine of T 1 (1:0.5 dilution) had the highest acidity, reducing sugars, total phenols and anthocyanin contents, whereas ethanol content and total esters were found higher in T 3 (1:2 dilution). The ethanol content of wines of different treatments ranged from 9.9 to 11.8% (v/v) and the wine prepared from T 2 (1:1 dilution) was adjudged the best with respect to sensory qualities. On the basis of physico-chemical and sensory quality characteristics, jamun wine prepared by 1:1 dilution is considered best as table wine and maturation for a year improved the quality of wine considerably. Keywords: Jamun, Black plum, Syzygium cuminii, Wine, Total phenols, Anthocyanin. IPC code; Int. cl. (2011.01)—A61K 36/00, A23L 2/02 Introduction Syzygium cuminii (Linn.) Skeels, commonly known as Black plum and Jamun in Hindi, belongs to family Myrtaceae. It is an evergreen tropical minor fruit crop, native to India and Indonesia. The fruit is gaining popularity among the consumers due to its balanced sugar, acid and tannin content 1 . It is generally consumed fresh and is known to have nutraceutical and therapeutic values 2 . The fruit is an effective food remedy for curing diabetes, heart, bleeding piles and liver troubles because of its effect on the pancreas 3,4 . Since the fruit is a very rich source of anthocyanin, it possesses antioxidant properties too 5 . Amongst different products that can be prepared from it, wine is one such product. Wine, an alcoholic beverage is prepared by fermenting the different fruit juices with appropriate processing and additions. The basic process of wine making involves the fermentation of grape juice or other fruits by Saccharomyces cerevisiae followed by maturation 6,7 . However, the quality of wine is known to depend upon a number of factors like cultivars and their characteristics such as adequate sugar level, acid content, colour and aroma 8 . Thick pulp, high acid and tannin contents of the jamun fruit affect its fermentation and hence, the quality of the final product 9 . Different factors which affect the quality of wine include initial sugar concentration, addition of enzyme, yeast strains and various other variables 9-12 . In earlier published works, jamun wine was prepared from commercial cultivars with 1:1 and 1:2 dilutions followed by fermentation as per the standard practice. However, there is no report on the preparation of wine from locally produced jamun, addition of nitrogen source and effect of maturation on quality of wine. Therefore, efforts were made to prepare a palatable wine from jamun fruit by diluting the pulp with water in different ratios and the results are presented in this communication. ————————— *Correspondent author: E-mail: vkjoshipht@rediffmail.com