As a part of a project to diversify the use of sweet potatoes, we are developing an alcoholic beverage produced from sweet potatoes. In this study, we have produced alcoholic beverage using 14 types of orange, yellow, and purple sweet potatoes. We then selected the most suitable sweet potatoes for production of the new alcoholic beverage. Among the types tested, Ayamurasaki (purple), Kyushu 118 (yellow) and Kyushu 125 (yellow) produced a large amount of CO
2 during fermentation and this resulted in the production of beverages containing large amounts of aroma components with a wine-like aroma. However, the alcoholic beverage produced from Ayamurasaki did not have a brilliant red color due to the presence of a large amount of anthocyanin pigment. To make an alcoholic beverage with a brilliant red color, we mixed Ayamurasaki and Kyushu 118 as the initial mash. The resulting alcoholic beverage produced from Ayamurasaki (20 g) and Kyushu 118 (60 g) contained larger amounts of isoamyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, and isoamyl acetate than alcoholic beverages produced with different ratios of Ayamurasaki to Kyushu 118, and this beverage had a good aroma resembling wine and a brilliant red color.
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