Alcoholic Beverages Obtained from Black Mulberry
Jacinto Darias-Martín1*, Gloria Lobo-Rodrigo2, José Hernández-Cordero1, Eugenio Díaz-Díaz2 and Carlos Díaz-Romero3
1Centro Superior de Ciencias Agrarias, Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Area de Tecnología de Alimentos, Universidad de La Laguna, Carretera de Geneto 2, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Island, Spain
2Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias
3Departamento de Química Analítica, Nutrición y Bromatología, Universidad de La Laguna, Carretera de Geneto 2, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Island, Spain
Article history:
Received: June 7, 2002
Accepted: April 24, 2003
Key words:
Morus nigra, juice, fermentation, alcoholic beverage
Summary:
Black mulberry (Morus nigra) is a fruit not known only for its nutritional qualities and its flavour, but also for its traditional use in natural medicine as it has a high content of active therapeutic compounds. However, this fruit is not widely produced in Spain but some trees are still found growing in the Canary Islands, particularly on the edges of the ravine. The inhabitants of these islands (Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma, El Hierro and Lanzarote) collect the fruit and prepare homemade beverages for medicinal purposes. Numerous authors have reported that type II diabetes mellitus can be controlled by taking a mixture containing black mulberry and water. Apart from that, this fruit has been used for the treatment of mouth, tongue and throat inflammations. In this study we present some characteristics of black mulberry juice (TSS, pH, titratable acidity, citric acid, lactic acid, polyphenols, anthocyanins, the potassium etc.) and alcoholic beverages (alcoholic grade, pH, total acidity, volatile acidity, tannins, phenols etc.) obtained from black mulberry. Moreover, we have studied the quality of liquors obtained from black mulberry in Canary Islands.
*Corresponding author: 
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