Production and characterization of a natural cultural drink - ginger ale

Abstract

Ginger ale is a fermented beverage made of ginger possessing functional and probiotic potential, which makes it a rather attractive and popular non-alcoholic beverage. Given these properties, this study aimed to produce a non-alcoholic fermented beverage based on microorganisms found in ginger by replicating our methodologies found in literature (A, B, C and D), and its physicochemical and microbiological characteristics have been analyzed thereof. It was made based on two stages of fermentation, the former being aerobic to produce the starters (ginger bug) lasting from 4 to 7 days, and the latter anaerobic for producing the resulting beverage (ginger ale), totaling 3 days. After fermentation, physicochemical and microbiological analyses were carried out and samples were stored under refrigeration until the 30th day. Afterwards, it was found that the ginger ale samples produced based on methodologies A and B had the lowest alcohol content (0.44 and 0.39 % v/v, respectively) and the smallest sugar concentrations. On the 15th day, both were still considered non-alcoholic, but they became alcoholic on the 30th day. The ginger ale samples produced through methodologies C and D were alcoholic from the 3rd day of fermentation. Moreover, the samples obtained by the four methodologies had some probiotic cultures, but were nonetheless unable to be characterized as probiotic beverages due to the fact that their total phenolic content was the same throughout fermentation. The sample produced by methodology A, which had the most satisfactory characteristics, was submitted to a sensory analysis, and over 70 % acceptance was found for all attributes being evaluated. Thus, the ginger ale samples produced by this work are quite promising.