Enhancement of Nutritional Content of Traditional Banana Beer Using Bio-Process

This research study was undertaken to enhance the nutritional quality of traditional banana beer using bioprocess. Traditional banana beers (S1, S2, and S3) which acted like control were produced from the mixture of fermented banana juice with roasted sorghum. On the other hand, improved banana beers (S4–S12) were produced from blends of banana juice, sorghum, malt, hops, and water. The experimental design was based on Mixture I-optimal design using Design Expert software version 11.0. The proximate composition of the traditional banana beers was: moisture, protein, fiber, ash, fats, and carbohydrate contents that ranged from 89.61-98.75, 0.29-0.59, 0.10-0.59, 0.18-0.59, 0.00-0.05 and 0.46-8.46%, respectively; while those of enhanced bio-process method were: 87.95-97.40, 0.01-0.84, 0.10-0.50, 0.08- 0.50, 0.0-0.34 and 1.33-6.85 %, respectively. Pro-vitamin A was predominant in all treatments that ranged from 24.03-48.20mg/100g, while Biotin and Vitamin C contents ranged from 1.40-2.60 and 10.10-17.69 mg/100g, respectively. Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Sodium, Zinc, and Phosphorus contents ranged from 16.33–39.33, 4.41-12.37, 6.46–13.02, 1.30–2.46, 0.01–0.39ppm and 12.36–72.40mg/100g, respectively. The nutritional quality parameters showed that the bioprocess method was efficient to improve traditional banana beers. Keywords: Banana beer, Malting, Bio-process, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae