Mulberry is grown worldwide. Its leaves are used to feed the silkworms which in turn produce silk fiber. Sericulture is mostly practiced in China, India and Japan. In the rest of the world, mulberry is generally used as forage in animal production, or for other purposes. Besides using the leaves, mulberry bears sweet fruit. The full –bodied flavor of this fruit is a good balance of sweetness and tartness with nutrient elements of vital importance for human metabolism. If these fruits are industrially exploited for various commercially valuable products, mulberry can become an important crop throughout the world. Mulberries are good for health because of their vitamins, minerals and bioactive compounds. In addition, high carotene and organic acids content help to increase the body’s resistance. Mulberry can be used for making jam, jelly, pulp, fruit drink, fruit sauce, cake, fruit tea, fruit powder, fruit wine, food colorant, diabetes control agent and as ruminant livestock feed. In order to find the optimal conditions for the fermentation process, the juice was inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from mulberry in various conditions. The results were as follows: inoculum volume 9 %v/v (inoculum concentration 107 yeast cells/mL), initial mulberry juice with 24oBx and pH 3.5, fermentation temperature 18÷20oC. Fermentation was carried out for 48h and the ethanol content of product was 5 %v/v.
Keywords: Ethanol, Fermentation, Mulberry Juice, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae
