2. Material and methods
2.1. Fermentation conditions
A. unedo fruitswere harvestedmanuallywhen ripe (red surface color)
in the Southern region of Portugal, between October and December of
2008, andwere transported to the distillery, located in Algarve (Portugal).
On arrival, fruits were manually selected to remove the green ones, the
peduncles and leaves. Their initial pH value was about 3.3 and °Brix
was, on average 15. The fruits (300 kg) were mixed with UV treated
water (80 l) in stainless steel containers which were then closed and
solid state fermentations were carried out at room temperature. During
the mixture with water, the berries may split, facilitating the further hydrolysis
of the polysaccharides. The duration of each fermentation process
varied as a function of the development of flavor characteristics according
to the producer decisions: 135 days for Fermentation A (FA), 150 days for
Fermentation B (FB) and 142 days for Fermentation C (FC). Samples of
the fermenting mass were collected, under sterile conditions,
through taps present in the fermenters and aseptically transferred
to sterile 50 ml tubes which were transported, under refrigeration,
to the laboratory in Instituto Superior de Engenharia
(Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal).