NON-ALCOHOLIC MALT DRINK PRODUCTION FROM YELLOW MAIZE USING MORINGA LEAF EXTRACT AS PRESERVATIVE AGENT

Abstract

Non-alcoholic malt drinks with an alcohol content of less than 0.5% are consumed in many countries. Non-alcoholic malt drink is produced primarily by malting yellow maize followed by mashing, wort boiling, maturation and finishing operation. Malt is prepared in five main steps cleaning, soaking, germination, drying, and kilning. After malting, it milling, mashing, mash filter, wort boiling, cooling, maturation, filtration, and packaging operation give the final non-alcoholic malt drink. Microbial spoilage of non-alcoholic beverages is a critical issue, and for this reason, different methods were adapted to reduce spoilage. This study aimed to bring out essential micronutrients and antioxidants of moringa to combat the preservative problem through non-alcoholic malt drink products. Physicochemical and proximate analyses of raw materials ( yellow maize and moringa) were performed; i.e. total phenol content and total flavonoid content concentration were found to be 84.10 ± 1.8 mg GAE / g dried and 70.79 ± 0.73 mg QE / g dried, respectively. Germinated yellow maize was a very good source of carbohydrates and energy, but lower content of protein, ash, and fat compared to non-germinated yellow maize. Central composite design (CCD) was used to examine the effects of the three independent variables (Mixing ratio, Temperature, and Time) in two-level combinations with a total number of 20 runs was applied to optimize mash production to conduct with the response variables which was the highest yield of extract. After the optimization of mash had been completed at the mashing step, maize malt was mixed by boiling wort with extracted moringa with the ratio of 5%, 10%, and 15%, and the necessary parameters of the final product were measured. The effect of moringa blended malt drink and storage time on microbial growth was characterized and the result of the analysis was compared with another commercial malt drink product produced in the country; Dashen brewery and the product obtained were tolerated. Storage of malt drink until six months, 10% and 15% of moringa substitution were suitable to minimize the growth of microorganisms and to predict extend shelf life of the product Finally, 5% and 10% of moringa substitution malt drink were acceptable in overall sensory characteristics among given samples.