Evaluation of Physicochemical Characteristics from Industrial and handcrafted Cachaça commercialized in the North Central Region from Paraná State

Resumo

Cachaça is the second most consumed alcoholic beverage by Brazilians, only losing position for beer. Its manufacturing is divided into handcrafted (still) and industrial (distillation column). The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of cachaça handcrafted and industrialized in the north central region of Paraná by physicochemical measurements of volatile acidity, alcohol content, pH, copper, higher alcohols, aldehydes, esters, furfural and methanol; as well as to evaluate statistical differences between the origin of the drink for the studied compounds. Three samples of handcrafted cachaça (A101, A102 and A103) and three different industrial samples (B101, B102 and B103) were collected. With respect to the parameters, alcohol content, higher alcohols, esters, furfural and methanol, samples globally exhibited 100% compliance to the boundary values, for aldehydes and volatile acidity, 83.3% had adequate values and 33.3% exhibited unacceptable for determining the values for copper. Therefore, from crafted drinks, only A101, was fully in accordance with the values established by law, while all industrial samples, were consistent. Regarding the origin of the beverage, the handcfated cachaças presented significant difrence from the industrial ones (p≤0.05) for having presented the highest concentration to the levels of volatile acidity, copper, aldehydes and alcohol content. At the same significance level, industrial-scale beverage excelled by the higher alcohols and esters content. One can conclude that the industrial and artisanal drinks are divergent on compounds analyzed, as well as the guarantee of quality standards across the legal limits.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14685/rebrapa.v4i2.114