ABSTRACT
Panagiotis Kandylis
Chapter Author:
Panagiotis Kandylis (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3909-2139" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3909-2139)
Affiliation
Laboratory of Oenology and Alcoholic Beverages, Department of Food Science & Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University, P.O. Box 235, Thessaloniki, Greece 541 24
Τel.: +30 2310 991678, email pkandylis@agro.auth.gr
Almost all materials containing fermentable sugars can be used to produce vinegar, through a two-step fermentation process: alcoholic fermentation by yeasts, followed by ethanol oxidation into acetic acid by acetic acid bacteria. Vinegar is generally a low-price product (apart from some special aged vinegars); therefore, inexpensive raw materials can be used for its production, such as substandard fruits and vegetables, agricultural surpluses, and food wastes in general. Moreover, the post-harvest losses of agricultural production have a critical impact on the income of farmers and the economy in developing countries. Therefore, processing into vinegar is a helpful strategy to reduce these losses and to create added-value. Another reason for the exploitation of alternative raw materials and agri-industrial by-products is the production of novel types of vinegars with improved organoleptic and nutritional properties, since flavor or functional (bioactive) components of these raw materials will be delivered to the final vinegar products. In this chapter, agri-industrial wastes, by-products, and alternative raw materials that have been used, mainly in the recent scientific research, for vinegar production are presented, focusing specifically on fruit and vegetable sources and excluding the conventional types of vinegars (wine/raisin, balsamic, cider, and starch/cereal-based vinegars).
