Traditional Mead “Bessoudioury” from Senegal: Process and Characterization

Abstract

Mead is a beverage obtained by alcoholic fermentation of honey, with an ethanol content of 8% to 18% by volume. In Africa, mead manufacturing methods rely on heating honey and adding extracts of fruits, herbs or spices. "Bessoudioury" mead is then prepared according to the traditional process of the Bassari and Bedick peoples of Kedougou (Senegal). This work on "Bessoudioury" aims to describe and characterize the manufacturing processes. It was also to evaluate the chemical and microbiological characteristics. The study focused on three Kedougou production sites. The manufacturing process of "Bessoudioury" includes a honey heating, a formulation step by adding wine of either Borassus aethiopicum Mart. or Elaeis guineensis. This step is followed by a fermentation's one during two days. Wine is considered as the essential sources of yeasts for the production of alcohol. "Bessoudioury" has an ethanol content of 8% (v/v). Moulds and Streptococcus were not detected in this mead. According to its polyphenols content, this mead has a nutritional interest, but the process deserves to be reviewed to preserve nutrients.

Biochemical Properties and Molecular Characterization of Fermented Alcoholic Honey (Muratina) Microbes from Mbeere-Kenya

“…The optimization results can be seen in the high alcohol content of almost 20%, which is comparable to commercial wines. This process is similar to other traditionally fermented wines studied before [1,3,[24][25][26].…”

“…Muratina has an alcohol content of 19.66± 0.47 (mL/100ml) , pH of 4.06 ± 0.12 and titratable acidity of 7.57± 0.45 (g tartaric acid/100 mL). The alcoholic content of muratina seems higher than other traditional wines studied before while the pH and titratable acidity were comparable [1,[24][25][26][27][28][29]. This suggests that the yeast cultures from Muratina could possess high alcohol content tolerance and hence very good candidates for starter cultures in wine manufacture.…”

“…This could be due to the immobilization of these strains in Kigelia africana fruit. Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus plantarum have been reported before as responsible for spontaneous fermentation of wines [4,24,25,30]. The lack of diversity has been reported before by Gangl, et al [3], this could be due to the fact that not many microorganisms are adapted to the high alcohol content in wines.…”

Insect Pests Preference for Cowpea: The Dilemma of Farmers in West Africa

“…Cowpea production in Senegal exceptionally thrives in the dry steppe Northern and central savannah parts of the country. These areas receive irregular rainfalls of 100-300 mm and 400-800 mm respectively in a year (Cissé and Hall, 2003). However, less than 10% of cowpea produced in Senegal comes from the Southern deciduous forest region of the country which receives 800-100 mm of rainfall per year.…”