UMADEV I S. HIREMATH, M.P. VAIDEHI AND S.V. HEGDE
Abstract
Quantitative analysis of the nutrients present in the standardized consumer accepted fermented tea (fermentation of sugared black tea with microbial culture of yeast Candida sp. and bacterium Acetobacter sp.) revealed the presence of 33 elements and several organic compounds. Results showed that the fermented tea is rich in calcium (67 ppm), potassium (27 ppm), magnesium (25.6 ppm) and Aluminium (7.7 ppm). Beneficial elements viz., Zinc, Iron, chromium were in the range of 1.27 to 0.01 ppm. Rare elements viz. Molybdenum, Cobalt, nickel, Lead, Barium, silver, arsenic, antimony and strontium were also detected. Phyto-chemical composition indicated the presence of tannin (0.11 mg/1), alcohol (1.15%), soluble sugar (1.1mg/100m1), crude protein (2.00 mg/1), vitamin-E as a-tocopherol (4.64 mg/1), piperazine, caffeine, salicylic acid, pentadecanoic acid and eicosenic acid etc have been identified as beneficial substances.