Production of fragrant vinegar from date wastes applying submerged acetification technique

Vinegar plays a focal role for being an important ingredient in a great variety of industrial, medical, and domestic products. It is considered one of the best condiments with particular uses in industrial production of mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, pickles, salad dressings, hot sauce and so on. Thus there is a great demand for good quality vinegar which requires setting up of industrial fermentation systems capable of generating a large amount of the produce. Many techniques have been developed to improve production of vinegar. The majority try to increase the speed of the transformation of ethanol into acetic acid in the presence of the acetic acid bacteria. The most common technology for industrial production of vinegar today is based on the submerged culture with diverse technical modifications trying to improve the general fermentation conditions by modifying aeration, stirring, heating, etc. techniques. The overall aim in the present study is to utilize date wastes available in abundant amount for conversion into vinegar using submerged acetification technique at the existed lab scale production setup equipped with a venturi air system. A semi continuous process is developed for the production of vinegar from date waste. The culture of vinegar bacteria was charged, and the activated biomass along with date mash was taken into submerged vinegar processing system for vinegar production optimizing air flow rate provide a desired oxygen partial pressure to the bio-reactor adjusted at 30°C. The air bubbling and quality evaluation of the product continued till 12% acidity. After taking out a suitable amount of the generated vinegar equal volume of date mash was added into the reactor to restart the acetification cycle. A variety of fragrant vinegars is prepared by adding an approved fragrant derived from various herbs and quality evaluated.