Physicochemical characterization of non-alcoholic beverages produced from malted roasted varieties of maize (Zea mays)

Abstract

Non-alcoholic malt beverages were produced with roasted malt from three maize varieties as Local, Obatanpa and Yellow corn. Chemical and physical properties of the beverages were determined by standard procedures for pH, titratable acidity (TTA), °Brix and colour. Acceptability test of the beverages was conducted using a trained laboratory-based panel of 20 members. The pH of beverage samples significantly differed (p < 0.05) among maize varieties and malting durations and ranged between 5.10 – 5.14 and 5.09 – 5.17 for the two treatments respectively. TTA was significantly different (p < 0.05) among the malting durations, with “96 hours malting” having the highest (0.19%). The TTA among the three varieties, however, was not significantly different. The °Brix increased as malting duration increased and colour were different (p < 0.05) among varieties and malting durations. Maillard and caramelization reactions, which occurred during roasting of the maize malts resulted in darkening of the non-alcoholic beverage and this was reflected in the low L* colour descriptor values. Sensory evaluation revealed significant differences between beverage samples malted over different periods. Chemical and visual properties of the non-alcoholic beverages from roasted maize-malt compared very well with those typical of other non-alcoholic malt beverage. Thus, roasting is a good unit operation to replace caramelization of sugar in the production of malt beverage from maize