Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity of Alcoholic Beverage Mead Produced from Greek Chestnut Honey

Mead is a yeast-derived alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of honey, also called “honey wine” or traditionally “hydromeli”. Mead has never received the reputation it deserves, although it is a product derived from the most famous natural sweetener. However, it seems to have been in extremely high demand in recent years as it incorporates organoleptic characteristics like wine. Mead contains many biologically active substances, including phenolic compounds, derived from honey. The aim of this study was to evaluate and correlate the antioxidant activity of mead with the chestnut honey from which it is derived. For this purpose, a fermentation of chestnut honey was performed with the Belgian yeast strain M12 Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus for 30 days at 19 ℃. Antioxidant activity was estimated using the DPPH assay, and results were expressed as mmol Trolox equivalents kg^-1. In chestnut honey the scavenging effect of the DPPH radicals was 6.80±0.04 mmol Trolox kg^-1, while mead was slightly better in eradicating radicals with inhibition of 7.67±0.05 mmol Trolox kg^-1. Even though honey was diluted in a 1:2 ratio with water before fermentation, the final product showed a higher rate of antioxidant activity than honey. This paradoxical effect is probably because, during fermentation, compounds which can react with the radicals of the DPPH assay are probably formed. Our results demonstrate that mead has a particular scientific interest due to its antioxidant properties. Further research is needed on the effect of the yeast strain and fermentation conditions as an effort fora deeper investigation of the understudied topic of Greek mead.