DEVELOPMENT AND SENSORY ACCEPTANCE OF TEPACHE: FUNCTIONAL, INNOVATIVE AND SUSTAINABLE FERMENTED BEVERAGE

Athletes and sportsmen are constantly looking for food alternatives that not only promote energy replenishment, but also provide compounds capable of optimizing physical performance. In this context, the development of fermented beverages, such as tepache of Mexican origin, appears as a sustainable and innovative option that arouses interest due to its functional properties and the possibility of using agro-industrial by-products. The objective of this work was to develop and sensorially evaluate formulations of the fermented beverage tepache aimed at athletes and sportsmen. Three formulations were developed: one standard (F1) and two (F2 and F3) with different concentrations of commercial pre-workout supplement, containing beta-alanine, arginine, taurine, caffeine and vitamin C. The following ingredients were used: drinking water, pearl pineapple peel, Tahiti lime juice, crystal sugar, ginger powder and hibiscus tea and for the F2 and F3 formulations there was the addition of a commercial pre-workout supplement in concentrations of 2.8% and 1.4%, respectively. The nutritional composition was carried out based on theoretical food composition tables. Sensory analysis was performed through an affective test with a hedonic scale with 38 untrained consumers of both sexes, practicing physical activity. The attributes appearance, aroma, flavor, global acceptance and purchase intention were evaluated. The acceptability index (AI) was calculated in %, according to the literature