Enhancing Heritage Apple Cider Vinegar

**Project**

Pant Du seek to pioneer a naturally, highly nutritious Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) with Welsh provenance, to aid in improved health and wellness. **Opportunity**

Modern lifestyles following Western diets are linked to rising incidence of non-communicable diseases in the UK, such as type two diabetes mellitus. Additionally, around two-thirds of UK adults are above a healthy weight, and 1 in 3 children leaving primary school are already overweight. UK government policies have been developed to tackle the rise in obesity, diet-related ill health, and the increased pressure on the NHS.

Emphasis is now shifting to healthier diets and the addition of 'functional foods,' which confer health benefits beyond basic nourishment by altering metabolic function. This has led to research in health-promoting elements in foods and beverages such as Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV).

ACV is a type of vinegar used in salad dressings, marinades, and sauces. ACV is mildly acidic (4-5% acetic acid) and can be made from cider/apple juice fermented with bacteria/yeast. Sugar first turns into alcohol, then acid, giving ACV its sour flavour.

Acetic acid, polyphenols, flavonoids, and organic acids provide ACV its preventive properties, which can protect human health. In a well-balanced diet, moderate ACV consumption has many health benefits: antihyperlipidemia, anti-diabetic, neurodegenerative, antimicrobial, and antibacterial. ACV has enjoyed a surge in popularity recently due to its natural remedies for improving digestion, blood sugar level control, and satiety.

**Innovation**

We will select heritage apples and surplus/lower grade cider to enable the production of a secondary product containing natural health benefits. This ACV has the potential to meet demands to produce health benefiting functional ACV to be used in the food service industry as condiments or ingredients within cooking, as nutraceutical supplements, with improved nutritional quality, flavour, and enhanced health benefits and provenance.

**Project outputs:** * Picking, fermentation and production of heritage ACV * Surplus/lower grade cider ACV production * Analytical data: acetic acid, alcohol and total polyphenols * Final products * Market Analysis and strategy, with promotion and outreach **Significance**

Pant Du has an established business track record as well as experience in R&D and commercialisation of products and has access to large scale production facilities and state-of-the-art analytical facilities. This project is underpinned by extensive proof-of-market research with existing/prospective customers.

**Outcome**

Funding will catalyse time-to-market to develop and validate the effectiveness of the ACV production methods using heritage apples and surplus/lower grade cider to significant Welsh and UK nutrition challenges.