College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; National Engineering Research Center for Fruit & Vegetable Processing, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Fruit & Vegetable Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100083, China; Beijing Key Laboratory for Food Non-thermal Processing, Beijing 100083, China.
College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
Food Res Int. 2023 Jan;163:112194. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112194. Epub 2022 Nov 19.
Fermented peppers are usually obtained by the spontaneous fermentation of microorganisms attached to fresh peppers, and the variable microbial composition would lead to inconsistencies in flavor between batches. To demonstrate the roles of microorganisms in flavor formation, the core microbes closely associated with the key aroma compounds of fermented pepper paste were screened and validated in this study. Lactobacillus was the dominant bacterial genus in fermented pepper paste, whereas the main fungal genera were Alternaria and Kazachstania. Nine strains of the genera Lactobacillus, Weissella, Bacillus, Zygosaccharomyces, Kazachstania, Debaryomyces, and Pichia were isolated from fermented pepper paste. Eleven key aroma compounds were identified using gas chromatography combined with olfactometry and relative odor activity values. Correlation analysis showed that Zygosaccharomyces and Kazachstania were positively correlated with the majority of the key aroma compounds, whereas Lactobacillus was negatively correlated with them. Thus, Zygosaccharomyces and Kazachstania were identified as core genera associated with the key odorants. Finally, Zygosaccharomyces bisporus, Kazachstania humilis, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum were used as starter cultures for fermented peppers, confirming that Z. bisporus and K. humilis were more beneficial for the key aroma compounds (e.g., acetate, linalool, and phenyl ethanol) rather than L. plantarum. This study contributed to understanding the flavor formation mechanism and provided references for the quality control of food fermentation.
发酵辣椒通常通过附着在新鲜辣椒上的微生物的自然发酵获得，而微生物组成的变化会导致批次之间的风味不一致。为了证明微生物在风味形成中的作用，本研究筛选并验证了与发酵辣椒糊关键香气化合物密切相关的核心微生物。发酵辣椒糊中的优势细菌属为乳酸菌，而主要真菌属为链格孢属和卡氏酵母属。从发酵辣椒糊中分离出 9 株乳酸菌属、魏斯氏菌属、芽孢杆菌属、酿酒酵母属、卡氏酵母属、德巴利酵母属和毕赤酵母属的菌株。使用气相色谱结合嗅觉测量法和相对气味活度值鉴定出 11 种关键香气化合物。相关性分析表明，毕赤酵母属和卡氏酵母属与大多数关键香气化合物呈正相关，而乳酸菌属与它们呈负相关。因此，毕赤酵母属和卡氏酵母属被鉴定为与关键气味物质相关的核心属。最后，将毕赤酵母属、卡氏酵母属和植物乳杆菌属用作发酵辣椒的发酵剂，证实毕赤酵母属和卡氏酵母属更有利于关键香气化合物（如乙酸酯、芳樟醇和苯乙醇）的形成，而不是植物乳杆菌属。本研究有助于了解风味形成机制，并为食品发酵的质量控制提供了参考。
