Antioxidant activities of tropical fruit wines

Abstract

Fermentation of different fruits offers diverse flavours, aromas and colours as well as possible benefits from dietary fibre, vitamins and phenolic compounds. In this work, wines were prepared from dragon fruit from the cactus cagaita, the grape‐like berry from jabuticaba and the yellow berry from the cactus pitaya. Fruit wines from cagaita, jabuticaba and pitaya were analysed for volatile compounds, phenolic content and antioxidant capacity (DPPH and FRAP). The cagaita wine showed the highest ability to scavenge DPPH free radicals, in addition to reducing power assessed by the FRAP method. Fermentation of cagaita, jabuticaba and pitaya provides an alternative and constructive use for fruit post‐harvest together with a potential source of bioactive compounds that may be beneficial to human health. © 2018 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling