ORIGINAL ARTICLE Wine Production from Carambola ( ) Juice Using Averrhoa carambola Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sayali Napahde, Annika Durve, D.Bharati and Naresh Chandra Department of Biotechnology, Birla College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Kalyan (W.) Dist. Thane, India INTRODUCTION MATERIALSAND METHODS Processing For the Fruits into Juice The carambola ( , more popularly known as star fruit, but also coromandel gooseberry, kamranga, or five finger, is a golden-yellow to green berry in colour. The carambola is a species of tree native to Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh and is popular throughout Southeast Asia, Trinidad, Malaysia and parts of East Asia. The fruits are ovate to ellipsoid, 2.5 to 5 inches (6 to 13 cm) in length, with 5 (rarely 4 or 6) prominent longitudinal ribs [12]. The skin is thin, light to dark yellow and smooth with a waxy cuticle. The flesh is light yellow to yellow, translucent, crisp and very juicy, without fiber. There may be up to 12 flat, thin brown seeds 0.25 – 0.5 inch long or none at all. Seeds lose viability in a few days after removal from fruit. Two carambola fruit varieties have been described: one, smaller in size with strong sour taste and the other, larger in size with mild sweet taste [20]. Several cultivars of the tree exist which are described as sweet types or sour types [3, 5]. The fruit is easily pureed to produce a thin yellow juice of ~6ºBrix and moderate acidity consisting primarily of oxalic acid. Single strength juice is weak, acidic and not very flavorful. Major products are a sweetened juice and a salted, fermented juice in the Orient [14]. The carambola fruit is an economically important commodity. Most carambola fruits are marketed in processed forms. It is edible and has numerous uses. The ripe fruit may be processed into fermented or unfermented drinks, preserves, jam or jelly, or eaten fresh as dessert [13]. The unripe fruit may also be eaten as a vegetable [13] In Southern China carambola fruits are preserved in thin packages and exported to other countries. The fruit is a potential source of pectin. The fruits are recommended for use as a febrifuge and especially effective against polydipsia [21]. The fruits have narcotic and emetic potentials which are exploited in infusion to alleviate asthma and various colics [9]. The objectives of this work are producing and characterizing the carambola fruit juice, studying the fermentation characteristics of the juice and production of wine using carambola fruit juice. : Ripe and unripe undamaged Carambola fruits were harvested from a tree in Badlapur, Dist Thane. Maharashtra, India The washed fruits (ripened and unripened) were cut into pieces and blended in a blender. The juice was strained Averrhoa carambola) Carambola fruits ASIAN J. EXP. BIOL. SCI. SPL.2010 :20-23 ABSTRACT KEY WORDS: The fruit of Averrhoa Carambola L., is an attractive tropical fruit of the Oxalidaceae family. As most of the Carambola crops are consumed fresh, very few carambolas are processed. The physico-chemical characteristics of carambola fruit juice from unripened and ripened fruits were determined to assess the suitability of the fruit as raw material for wine production. The juice was analysed to determine pH, moisture content, total solids, the types of sugars, total sugars and vitamin C content. The fruit had a characteristic soft, fragile and thin skin, relatively few seeds and high water content (88.6% – 91.7%) which made its processing into a fruit juice fairly simple and easy. The analysis of the sugars showed sucrose as the predominant sugar present in both ripened and unripened fruit juice. Vitamin C content was substantially high (28- 40gm %). The total sugar content and pH were very low. Wine was produced from the ripened and unripened carambola fruit juice.The results indicated that sugar and yeast starter culture helped in increasing the alcohol content. Though sensory evaluation rated the Carambola wine quite acceptable as an alcoholic beverage, significant differences exist between the Carambola wine and the commercial grape wine particularly in taste and flavour. Carambola (Averrhoa carambola), Carambola juice wine. © Society of Applied Sciences ASIAN J.EXP.BIOL.SCI.SPL.2010 20