Low-Temperature Alcoholic Fermentation for the Production of High Quality Vinegar using Peach

As health benefits of traditional vinegar is newly recognized, vinegar products are being developed with new and enhanced functionalities to meet customers’ diverse demand. Meanwhile, peach is one of the crops with largest production in Korea but neither its preservation nor its processing is simply done. For the development of a new vinegar product using peach, the present study focused on improving an alcoholic fermentation process using a new cold-tolerant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain isolated from peach. Specifically, alcoholic fermentation of peach concentrates was performed at a control (30℃) or a low (10℃) temperature, followed by conventional acetic acid fermentation at 25℃, to investigate the effect of low-temperature alcoholic fermentation (LTAF) on the final vinegar quality. We measured free amino acid contents and flavor compound profiles, and performed sensory evaluation of the vinegar products. As a result, the LTAF vinegar had higher free amino acid contents and lower off-flavor intensity than those in the control vinegar. Moreover, overall preference of the LTAF vinegar was significantly higher than the control vinegar. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that a promising potential of using the LTAF process for the development of high quality vinegar products.