Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 49: 213-219, 1996 © 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. The suitability of African bush mango juice for wine production P.I. AKUBOR Department of Food Technology, Federal Polytechnic, P.M.B. 1037 1DAH, Nigeria Received 16 June I994; accepted in revised form 21 June 1995 Key words: Bush mango, Juice, Wine fermentation Abstract. A good quality wine was produced from African bush mango (Irvingia var. gabonensis). Analysis of the African bush mango juice showed that it contained 3.6% total sugar, 1.09% protein, 4.2 ° Brix soluble solids (SS) 0.5% ash, 50.24% total solids (TS), 66.7 rag/100 ml ascorbic acid and pH 5.12. The juice ameliorated to 23° Brix was inoculated with 3% (w/v) Baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and held at 30+ 2 °C for 28 days. SS and pH decreased while titratable acidity (TA) increased with increasing period of fermentation. Fermentation was 110% efficient. The wine produced had 8.12% (v/v) alcohol, 0.78% protein, 6.5% Brix SS, 0.64 g/100 ml TA, and a pH 3.10. Sensory evaluation results showed that there was no significant difference (p=0.05) in colour, mouthfeel, sweetness, flavour and general acceptability, between African Bush mango wine and a reference wine. The wine was generally accepted. Introduction Irvingia var. gobonensis (Africa bush mango) is grown in various parts of West Africa for its seed. The seed which contains 8.68-10.50% protein and 72% fat [13] is used to thicken soups. The apple surrounding the seed turns yellow when riped as in mango and is usually eaten raw. In this way, the apple is consumed to a considerable extent, however, large quantities are usually wasted. This seed has been extensively studied by a number of workers, [13, 14] while information on the apple remains scanty. Good quality wines have been produced from a number of tropical fruits [1, 3, 11]. The composition of a substance is one of the critical factors which determines its suitability for wine production. Tropical fruits are not only low in sugars and nutrients but high in acidity [2]. These proper ties do not favour their utilisation for wine making, thus amelioration with sugar, dilution with water to reduce the acidity and mineral supplementation have been widely practised. Control of temperature is a critical factor in wine production particularly in a hot climate like Nigeria. The use of saccharomyces cerevisae and ambient temperature fermentation have been recommended and practised. The objects of this study were to analyse the juice of bush mango for its nutrients composition and to investigate the suitability of the juice as a fermentation substrate for wine production.