Bio-utilization of wild berries for preparation of high valued herbal wines

The fruits of wild berries, viz. Berberis lycium Royle, Pyrus pashia Buch.-Ham ex D. Don, Actinidia deliciosa (A.Chev.) C. F. Liang & A. R. Ferguson, Syzygium jambos (L.) Alston, Emblica officinalis Gaertn., Prunus cerasoides D. Don, Rubus ellipticus Sm, Crataegus sp. and Citrus karma Raf. were collected from the forests of various regions of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh (India) for preparation of low alcoholic and economical herbal wines along with their total qualitative evaluation, using standard methods. Various herbal wines were prepared from wild berry fruits and their total antioxidant activity, polyphenol content and flavonoid content were estimated by spectroscopic methods. Though, these herbal wines were prepared from those berry fruits which have poor market value but the wines prepared from them showed promising antioxidant activity of 75 mg-187 mg/L, total polyphenol content of 162 mg-2845 mg/L and total flavonoid content of 15 mg-183 mg/L. These herbal wines have strict range of alcohol (10-15%), °brix (8-10), pH (3.5-3.8) with acceptable sensory parameters like; colour, taste, sweetness, astringency and flora. So these highly valuable wild berry fruits from high altitudes of Himalayas could be processed for obtaining herbal wine with health and wealth exploring potential.