The use of hops as a bittering agent in the brewing industry represents a major challenge for several African countries due to their dependence on imports and the resulting economic burden. Developing locally available alternatives is therefore of significant technological and economic interest. This study aimed to evaluate the brewing potential of Balanites aegyptiaca fruit extracts as a substitute bittering agent in sorghum beer production. Bitter compounds were obtained using two extraction methods, infusion and maceration, and incorporated during wort boiling. A mixture experimental design generated with Design-Expert® software was applied to optimize the proportions of infused and macerated extracts as well as the wort cooking time. Vitamin C, flavonoids, and total polyphenols were selected as response variables and modelled using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), resulting in multivariate polynomial models with high predictive performance. The infused extract showed […] Read more at https://mjcellpress.com/article/mjes10/