Several strains of indigenous yeasts capable of
producing ethanol have been isolated from different local
sources such as fermented foods and fermented pineapple
juices, but in most of the studies, the preferred
candidate for industrial production of ethanol has been
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Okunowo et al., 2005). This
yeast has the ability to produce ethanol with no
contamination by other products present in the substrate
(Brooks, 2008). The use of selected yeast strains is an
important factor in the industrial production of fermenteddistilled
beverages such as distilled spirits of high
chemical and sensory quality. According to Bendoni et al.
(1999), S. cerevisiae strains may also be used to improve
wine flavor, as indicated by the higher isoamyl alcohol
content of the transformants as compared to the parental
strains. S. cerevisiae is a species of budding yeast. It is
perhaps the most useful yeast owing to its use since
ancient times in baking and brewing. Schuller et al.
(2005) studied the biodiversity of the species S.
cerevisiae in grapes collected in vineyards in Portugal to
know their fermentation performance and characterization,
and reported that commercial yeast strains were used by
the wineries. Both specific S. cerevisiae strains and commercial
yeast strains are capable of transforming sugar
broth into alcohol, and adding essential sensory attributes,
such as aroma and taste. Therefore, the choice of
the appropriate yeast for fermentation of banana pulp isessential for the development of techniques to produce
distilled spirits from bananas. Jitjaroen (2007) produced
banana wine from mashed bananas. He used 0.05% of
the enzyme Distizym at 60°C for 5 h and two commercials
yeast strains from beer (Siha 3 and G 74), and
found that the main organic acids in the banana wine
were malic acid (1.97 gl
-1
) and citric acid (1.42 gl
-1
). The
prominent aroma components produced were acetic acid
ethylester, acetic acid 2 and 3-methylbutylester, 2 and 3-
methyl-1-butanol and phenethyl alcohol. The author also
studied the production of wines from fermented musts of
santol and ma-mao.