Demarinis Chiara, Montemurro Marco, Torreggiani Andrea, Pontonio Erica, Verni Michela, Rizzello Carlo Giuseppe
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70126 Bari, Italy.
National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA), 70126 Bari, Italy.
Microorganisms. 2023 Jun 18;11(6):1607. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11061607.
Carob, an underutilized crop with several ecological and economic advantages, was traditionally used as animal feed and excluded from the human diet. Yet, nowadays, its beneficial effects on health are making it an interesting candidate as a food ingredient. In this study, a carob-based yogurt-like product was designed and fermented with six lactic acid bacteria strains, whose performances after fermentation and during shelf life were assessed through microbial and biochemical characterization. The strains showed different aptitudes to ferment the rice-carob matrix. Particularly, T6B10 was among the strains with the lowest latency phase and highest acidification at the end of fermentation. T6B10 also showed discrete proteolysis during storage, so free amino acids were up to 3-fold higher compared to the beverages fermented with the other strains. Overall, fermentation resulted in the inhibition of spoilage microorganisms, while an increase in yeasts was found in the chemically acidified control. The yogurt-like product was characterized by high-fiber and low-fat content; moreover, compared to the control, fermentation decreased the predicted glycemic index (-9%) and improved the sensory acceptability. Thus, this work demonstrated that the combination of carob flour and fermentation with selected lactic acid bacteria strains represents a sustainable and effective option to obtain safe and nutritious yogurt-like products.
角豆树是一种未得到充分利用的作物，具有多种生态和经济优势，传统上用作动物饲料，被排除在人类饮食之外。然而，如今它对健康的有益影响使其成为一种有趣的食品成分候选物。在本研究中，设计了一种基于角豆树的类似酸奶的产品，并用六种乳酸菌菌株进行发酵，通过微生物和生化特性评估了它们在发酵后和保质期内的性能。这些菌株在发酵米 - 角豆基质方面表现出不同的能力。特别是，T6B10是发酵延迟期最短且发酵结束时酸化程度最高的菌株之一。T6B10在储存期间也表现出明显的蛋白水解作用，因此与用其他菌株发酵的饮料相比，游离氨基酸含量高出3倍。总体而言，发酵抑制了腐败微生物的生长，而在化学酸化对照中发现酵母数量增加。这种类似酸奶的产品具有高纤维和低脂肪含量的特点；此外，与对照相比，发酵降低了预测血糖指数（-9%）并提高了感官可接受性。因此，这项工作表明，角豆树粉与选定乳酸菌菌株发酵相结合是获得安全且营养丰富的类似酸奶产品的可持续且有效选择。
