Honey Biochemistry and Indigenous Palm Wine Yeasts as Sustainable Starter Cultures for Mead Production: An Integrated Biotechnological Framework

¹Anichukwu Nwankwo Onyinye, ¹Aniaku Vincent N., ²Okogu Sabinus Chukwuka and ¹Ogunbodede T. T.

¹Department of Applied Microbiology and Brewing, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria.

²Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Institute of Management and Technology, IMT, Enugu, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

Mead is one of the oldest fermented alcoholic beverages, traditionally produced by fermenting diluted honey with yeast. Despite increasing commercial interest in premium and functional fermented beverages, industrial mead production remains constrained by slow fermentation kinetics, nutrient deficiencies in honey must, and dependence on conventional Saccharomyces cerevisiae starter cultures. Honey is a chemically complex substrate composed predominantly of fructose and glucose together with proteins, enzymes, organic acids, minerals, vitamins, phenolic compounds and other bioactive constituents that collectively influence yeast physiology, fermentation performance and final product quality. Indigenous yeasts isolated from African palm wine have recently emerged as promising alternative starter cultures because of their adaptation to sugar-rich environments, high osmotic tolerance, efficient carbohydrate metabolism and ability to produce desirable aroma compounds. This review examines the biochemical composition, physicochemical characteristics and microbiological quality of honey and discusses their influence on mead fermentation. The fermentative potential of indigenous palm wine yeasts is evaluated alongside recent advances in fermentation biotechnology, including nutrient optimisation, mixed-culture fermentation and modern strain-selection approaches. Integrating indigenous microbial resources with contemporary fermentation technologies offers significant opportunities to improve fermentation efficiency enhance sensory quality and develop premium meads with distinctive regional identities while promoting the sustainable utilisation of indigenous microbial biodiversity.

Keywords: Honey; Mead; Honey must; Indigenous yeast; Palm wine; Fermentation biotechnology; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Non-Saccharomyces.

CITE AS: Anichukwu Nwankwo Onyinye, Aniaku Vincent N., Okogu Sabinus Chukwuka and Ogunbodede T. T. (2026). Honey Biochemistry and Indigenous Palm Wine Yeasts as Sustainable Starter Cultures for Mead Production: An Integrated Biotechnological Framework. NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN MEDICAL SCIENCES, 7(3):17-38. https://doi.org/10.59298/NIJRMS/2026/7.3.1738