Alcohol and acetic fermentation appraisal for vinegar production from orange juice

Alcohol and acetic fermentation appraisal for vinegar production from orange juice. Because of its climatic conditions, Brazil stands out as a great fruit producer. However, a considerable amount of this production is wasted, due to natural degradation, hurt during handling, or because of imperfections that make marketing impracticable. In this paper, unmarketable oranges were used in vinegar production, employing three treatments with different sugar contents (T1: natural juice; T2: 18 (o)Brix; and T3: 22 (o)Brix). Based upon chemical analysis, it was verified that most alcohol and vinegar production occurred with T2 and T3 treatments, probably due to the higher sugar content available to the conversion procedures carried out by microorganisms. Comparing the results obtained with T2 and T3 treatments, the latter treatment was more satisfactory, although a considerable amount of remaining sugar was verified after the alcohol fermentation process.