Physicochemical and microbiological description of Caxiri – a cassava and corn alcoholic beverage

Caxiri is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from cassava, corn and sweet potatoes by indigenous people in Brazil. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Lactobacillus fermentum, Bacillus subtilis and L. helveticus were the main microbial species detected. Maltose was the main carbohydrate found (19.12 g L⁻¹), and lactic acid (15.09 g L⁻¹) and ethanol (92.16 g L⁻¹) were also found in high concentrations. Gas chromatography‐flame ionisation detector was used to identify thirteen volatile compounds. Among these volatiles, the higher concentrations were decanoic acid (123.04 μg L⁻¹) for the acids, diethyl malate (88.32 μg L⁻¹) for the esters, furfural (109.31 μg L⁻¹) for the aldehydes, 2‐phenylethanol (1022.76 μg L⁻¹) for the alcohols and 1,1‐diethoxyethane (226.24 μg L⁻¹) for the others. This study contributes to increasing knowledge of the microbiota present in the alcoholic fermentation produced from cassava, corn and sweet potatoes.