"DEVELOPMENT AND STUDY OF FLAVORED TAPEREBÁ KOMBUCHA FERMENTATION"

Kombucha is obtained through the fermentation process of black tea infusion with sugars and a cluster of microorganisms, and can be consumed plain or combined with other flavors. The present study assessed the fermentative process of kombucha over a period of ten days (first fermentation). After this period, flavoring was carried out using taperebá (second fermentation) (also for a period of ten days). To monitor the fermentation, samples were collected during both fermentation stages. These samples underwent analyses for pH, total titratable acidity (ATT), and total soluble solids (TSS). For the second fermentation product, analyses were also conducted for total phenolic compounds (TPC) and total flavonoids (TF). The results showed that there was no significant change in TSS during both processes, remaining close to a value of 16%, indicating a substantial amount of sugars. In both processes, there was a decrease in pH values ranging from 2.81±0.01 to 2.42±0.01 and from 3.87±0.06 to 2.30±0.01 for the first and second processes, respectively. This suggests that the addition of taperebá might have introduced a substrate source to the fermentation, resulting in a more acidic product. The ATT results ranged from 0.53±0.00% to 7.93±0.00% and from 2.30±0.01% to 5.38±0.05% for the first and second fermentations, respectively. Thus, the addition of taperebá led to an increase in acidity in the product, potentially indicating the production of organic acids. The TPC value for the flavored product was 842.72±38.20 mgGAE/L, and the TF value was 67.06±1.26 mgEQ/L, suggesting that flavored Kombucha can be a rich source of biologically active compounds. From the study, it was observed that the processes led to a decrease in pH and an increase in acidity during fermentation, and the resulting product exhibited significant TPC and TF values, indicating a beverage with satisfactory nutritional characteristics.