“CACHAÇA” FLAVOUR IMPROVEMENT USING β-GLUCOSIDASE PREPARATION FROM THERMOACUS AURANTIACUS
Deglucosylated monoterpenes present in distilled beverages contribute to the floral aroma and flavour and can be obtained by the action of hydrolytic enzymes, such as β-glucosidases. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the use of crude β-glucosidases enzymes from Thermoascus aurantiacus CBMAI-756 to develop monoterpenes in “cachaça” in order to improve the floral aroma and flavour. The enzymatic complex was added prior to inoculation of sugar cane juice with Saccharomyces cerevisiae and standard fermentation only with S. cerevisiae was used as a reference. The hydrolysis of glycosidic terpenes by β-glucosidase preparation was studied, and its ability to efficiently release free terpenols was demonstrated by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction in a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer, and sensory analysis. The discriminant analysis was performed applying the paired comparison test to thirty panelists, previously familiarized with a solution of terpenes; they were asked to identify the sample with a higher floral aroma and flavor intensity. The acceptability of aroma, flavour and overall impression was evaluated using the hedonic scale of nine points, and panelists were also asked to indicate their preferred sample. The enzymatic treatment increased the amount of monoterpenes, and the floral aroma and flavour . The acceptability of “cachaça” with enzymatic treatment was higher than reference, and also preferred to the reference. The β-glucosidase demonstrated effectiveness in the release of volatile terpenes in the treated “cachaça”, which it is important to the industry and contributes to the research on the potential role of enzymes for cachaça improvement.