The forgotten wine: Understanding palm wine fermentation and composition

Abstract

Palm wine is an alcoholic beverage that has existed for centuries and has important economic and socio-culture values in many tropical and sub-tropical countries. Lesser known than other types of wines, palm wine is made by spontaneous fermentation of palm sap by naturally occurring microbial communities. The palm sap ecosystem has unique microbial composition and diversity, which determines the composition of the eventual wine and is likely affected by geographical distinctiveness. While these features are well understood in grape and rice wine, these features have not been understood in palm wine. Here, we gather information of microbial communities and metabolite profiles from published studies, covering a wide range of methodologies and regions to better understand the causal links between the principal microbial species and major metabolites of palm wine. We assessed palm wine quality across production regions and local practices to provide general characteristics of palm wine and identify specific regional information. These will provide better understandings to the function of microbial communities and metabolite diversity, the contribution of regional variations and to ensure product quality in this unique, yet overlooked, fermented beverage. • Palm wine is fermented sap from various palm species. • The facets of regional typicity reflect palm wine composition and tradition. • Palm wine has core microbial communities pattern across production countries. • Saccharomyces plays a major role in palm wine fermentation. • Intersection between cultures mediate palm wine demand in modern food system.

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