Palm wine produced by natural fermentation of Borassus akeassi raw sap exhibits great variability in physicochemical, sensory, and microbiological quality. This study aimed to improve the production process, safety and sensory quality of Borassus akeassii wine. Eight types of wine were produced, seven of which were obtained from a controlled fermentation process for 72 h using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and/or lactic acid bacteria strains previously isolated from palm wine in Burkina Faso. Physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of the wines were determined using standard methods while their sensory analysis was carried out on a panel of 24 tasters, including 15 regular consumers from Banfora and 9 naive consumers from Ouagadougou.

The pH ranged from 5.30±0.14 to 5.99±0.00, acidity from 0.39±0.06 to 1.66±0.12 (%), the brix degree from 2.95±0.07 to 5.2±0.00 and alcohol content from 1.92±0.00 to 5.87±0.00 (%). From the microbiological analyses, we obtained a total count of aerobic flora and coliforms below 1 CFU/mL in the conditioned wine. The sensory characteristics of the wines differed significantly as the panelist preferred the wines fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae PW3 and PW16 strains, respectively. The study revealed that the presence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae PW3 and PW16 strains and lactic acid bacteria promoted the production of higher quality wines with improved microbiological and sensory properties. They therefore stand as suitable starter culture candidates for the production of quality wines from Borassus akeassii sap.

Wine;, Borassus akeassii, Controlled fermentation;, Quality improvement;, Saccharomyces cerevisiae;, Lactic acid bacteria