Enhancing kombucha functionality: Utilizing dried pineapple peels and cores as an alternative ingredient for improved antioxidant and antimicrobial properties

In recent years, a wide variety of kombucha products have been developed from tea leaves blended with various raw materials. This study explores the potential of using pineapple byproducts, specifically dried pineapple peels and cores (dPPC), as an alternative ingredient to blend with black tea for kombucha production. The dPPC contains not only high sugar content but also exhibits high levels of total phenolics (75.02 mg GAE/L) and flavonoids (5.53 mg QE/L), comparable to black tea leaves. Kombucha products made from black tea blended with dPPC demonstrated greater total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) compared to traditional black tea-based kombucha (control). These kombucha products also possessed a wider variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and exhibited enhanced antioxidant and antimicrobial activities against various microorganisms. The KF5 kombucha fermentation formulation consisting of 20% (v/v) sweetened black tea and 80% (v/v) dPPC extract yielded optimal results, demonstrating the highest antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. These findings suggest that dPPC is a promising alternative ingredient for producing functional kombuchas with enhanced in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, potentially adding value to pineapple processing waste. • Pineapple byproducts show potential as kombucha ingredients • dPPC contains high sugar, phenolics, and flavonoids comparable to black tea • Fusion kombuchas have higher TPC and TFC than traditional kombucha • dPPC kombuchas show enhanced antioxidant and antimicrobial activities • A KF5 fermentation formulation yield the optimal kombucha product