Progressive freeze-concentration of blueberry juice and its application to produce blueberry wine

Abstract

Progressive freeze-concentration (PFC) of blueberry juice was carried out by a tubular ice system and the original juice at 11.2 Brix was concentrated up to 27.2 Brix. The PFC-concentration was proved to give a high quality concentrate with no substantial change both in organic acid distribution and flavor profile. The PFC-concentrated blueberry juice was fermented to produce a blueberry wine with 11.1 vol-% alcohol content, showing that a high alcohol content can be obtained without chaptalization in the present method. After the fermentation, some changes were observed both in the organic acid distribution and the flavor profile. As a whole, however, the blueberry wine retained enough amount of original blueberry flavors. The present results suggest a possibility to produce a new-type blueberry wine with rich ingredients and flavors.