Currently, foods and beverages with healthy and functional properties, especially those that claim to prevent chronic diseases, are receiving more and more interest. As a result, numerous foods and beverages have been launched onto the market. Among the products with enhanced properties, vinegar and fermented beverages have a high potential for growth. Date palm fruits are a versatile raw material rich in sugars, dietary fibers, minerals, vitamins, and phenolic compounds; thus, they are widely used for food production, including date juice, jelly, butter, and fermented beverages, such as wine and vinegar. Furthermore, their composition makes them suitable for the formulation of functional foods and beverages. Microbial transformations of date juice include alcoholic fermentation for producing wine as an end-product, or as a substrate for acetic fermentation. Lactic fermentation is also documented for transforming date juice and syrup. However, in terms of acetic acid bacteria, little evidence is available on the exploitation of date juice by acetic and gluconic fermentation for producing beverages. This review provides an overview of date fruit’s composition, the related health benefits for human health, vinegar and date-based fermented non-alcoholic beverages obtained by acetic acid bacteria fermentation.

The growing health consciousness among consumers is leading to an increased presence of functional foods and beverages on the market. Red fruits are rich in bioactive compounds such as anthocyanins with high antioxidant activity. In addition, red fruits contain sugars and are rich in phenolic compounds, vitamin C, dietary fibers, and manganese. Due to these characteristics, they are also suitable substrates for fermentation. Indeed, nowadays, microbial transformation of red fruits is based on alcoholic or lactic fermentation, producing alcoholic and non-alcoholic products, respectively. Although products fermented by acetic acid bacteria (AAB) have been thoroughly studied as a model of health benefits for human beings, little evidence is available on the acetic and gluconic fermentation of red fruits for obtaining functional products. Accordingly, this review aims to explore the potential of different red fruits, namely blackberry, raspberry, and blackcurrant, as raw materials for fermentation processes aimed at producing low- and no-alcohol beverages containing bioactive compounds and no added sugars. AAB are treated with a focus on their ability to produce acetic acid, gluconic acid, and bacterial cellulose, which are compounds of interest for developing fruit-based fermented beverages.