Chicha, a type of
beer made mainly with
maize or
cassava, is a traditional
fermented beverage of the Andean region. There have only been a few studies on
yeasts associated with
chicha fermentation, and the species diversity occurring during the
production of this
beverage is not known. The objective of this study was to determine the
biodiversity of
yeasts in
chicha, and to characterize the
Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations associated with the
production of
chicha de jora, seven-grain
chicha,
chicha de yuca, and
chicha de morocho in
Ecuador. The molecular diversity of
S. cerevisiae populations was determined by restriction polymorphism mitochondrial profiles. The
beverages were characterized based on their physicochemical
parameters. Twenty-six species were identified, and the most prevalent species were
S. cerevisiae and
Torulaspora delbrueckii. Other
yeast species were isolated at low frequencies. Among 121 isolates of
S. cerevisiae, 68 different
mtDNA molecular profiles were identified. These results showed that
chichas are fermented by a high number of different
strains of
S. cerevisiae. Some other species provided a
minor contribution to the
fermentation process. The
chicha presented generally
similar physicochemical
parameters to those observed for other traditional
fermented beverages, and can be considered as an
acid fermented beverage.(AU)