Abstract:
Non-alcoholic malt drinks with an alcohol content of less than 0.5% are consumed in many countries.
Non-alcoholic malt drink is produced primarily by malting yellow maize followed by mashing, wort
boiling, maturation and finishing operation. Malt is prepared in five main steps cleaning, soaking,
germination, drying, and kilning. After malting, it milling, mashing, mash filter, wort boiling, cooling,
maturation, filtration, and packaging operation give the final non-alcoholic malt drink. Microbial
spoilage of non-alcoholic beverages is a critical issue, and for this reason, different methods were
adapted to reduce spoilage. This study aimed to bring out essential micronutrients and antioxidants
of moringa to combat the preservative problem through non-alcoholic malt drink products.
Physicochemical and proximate analyses of raw materials ( yellow maize and moringa) were
performed; i.e. total phenol content and total flavonoid content concentration were found to be 84.10
± 1.8 mg GAE / g dried and 70.79 ± 0.73 mg QE / g dried, respectively. Germinated yellow maize
was a very good source of carbohydrates and energy, but lower content of protein, ash, and fat
compared to non-germinated yellow maize. Central composite design (CCD) was used to examine the
effects of the three independent variables (Mixing ratio, Temperature, and Time) in two-level
combinations with a total number of 20 runs was applied to optimize mash production to conduct
with the response variables which was the highest yield of extract. After the optimization of mash had
been completed at the mashing step, maize malt was mixed by boiling wort with extracted moringa
with the ratio of 5%, 10%, and 15%, and the necessary parameters of the final product were
measured. The effect of moringa blended malt drink and storage time on microbial growth was
characterized and the result of the analysis was compared with another commercial malt drink
product produced in the country; Dashen brewery and the product obtained were tolerated. Storage
of malt drink until six months, 10% and 15% of moringa substitution were suitable to minimize the
growth of microorganisms and to predict extend shelf life of the product Finally, 5% and 10% of
moringa substitution malt drink were acceptable in overall sensory characteristics among given
samples.
