STUDIES ON WINE PRODUCTION FROM COCONUT FRUIT (COCOS NUCIFERA LIN.)

Coconut fruit is a tropical fruit with short shelf-live due to prevailing temperature and humid condition in tropical areas like Benue state Nigeria. Consequently, production of wine from fruit may help reduce the level of postharvest loss and increase the range in type of wines. This study undertook production of wine from coconut fruit. Several parameters were determined. Colony counts of the yeast cells during coconut fermentation in cfu/ml showed the highest colony counts of yeast cells of 4.3 x 103 cfu/ml. the pH of the fermenting wine moved from 4.77 at 0hr to 2.79 at 168hrs suggesting it became more acidic and likely to be more  inhibitory to spoilage microorganism and gives fermenting yeast a competitive advantage. The temperature of the fermenting wine did not show major variation from time 0hr to 168hrs, however the specific gravity decreased with increased in time 0hr to 168hrs. The alcoholic content was 5.81 after 168hrs of fermentation period. More research is however required to determine the shelf stability of this wine produced in Nigeria.