Brewing and biochemical characterization of Camellia japonica petal wine with comprehensive discussion on metabolomics

Abstract A novel wine has been developed from Camellia japonica’s petal by fermenting the decoction with Saccharomyces cerevisiae or brewer’s yeast. pH, brix, specific gravity and alcohol percentage were tested to study the physicochemical properties of the wine. Qualitative tests indicated presence of phenols such as flavonoids, coumarins; protein; glycosides; glycerin; terpenoids; steroids; and fatty acids in the wine. Total phenol content was found high in the decoction and in its fermented form as well. In vitro biological activities such as antioxidant activity, antidiabetic activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition power were assessed in samples. Furthermore, GC-MS analysis helped to detect volatiles present in the unfermented decoction and understand the effect of fermentation on its changing metabolome while column chromatography assisted the separation of solvent-based fractions. Notable outcomes from this study were detection of bioactive compound quinic acid in the decoction and a proposed pathway of its metabolic breakdown after fermentation. Results of this research revealed biochemical and physicochemical acceptability of this wine prepared from an underutilized flower. Graphical Abstract