THE USE OF “UTAZI” LEAF EXTRACT (GONGRONEMA LATIFOLIUM) AS A MEANS OF EXTENDING THE SHELF LIFE OF A LOCALLY BREWED SORGHUM BEER
ABSTRACT
Sorghum beer is an indigenous African alcoholic beverage that has been long traditionally brewed in the Savannah region of Nigeria; over the years there has been a problem with the Keep ability of these beers. Contemporally, a conceptual approach of hopping these beers with an indigenous hop extracts; Utazi (Gongronema latifolium) has relatively improved its chemical properties compared to the Unhopped beer. This has been proven from the following; appreciable decrease in its ethanol content, total acidity, volatile acidity, Aspergilus prevalence from the forth day of its bench storage relative to the Unhopped beer which manifested in the second day. This clearly shows that the hopped sorghum beer with Utazi has a decreased rate of deterioration compared to the conventional Unhopped counterpart.
