Characterization of a fermented coconut milk product with and without strawberry pulp.

The development of plant-based milks for use as functional foods is relatively new and challenging. The objective of this work was to develop and characterize two coconut milk products fermented by Lactobacillus reuteri LR 92. The best proportion of gums to promote greater viscosity and absence of syneresis of the beverage was 0.15% xanthan gum (w/v) and 0.05% guar gum (w/v). Two products were formulated: fermented coconut milk (FC) and fermented coconut milk with strawberry pulp (FCS). After gastrointestinal simulation, a high survival rate of L. reuteri was found for the products, with 81.63 ± 0.58% for FC and 74.17 ± 1.65% for FCS. In the hedonic acceptance sensory test (total 9 points), the products obtained global scores above 7.5. In the attitude scale test (total 7 points), 5.10 ± 1.28 for FC and 5.48 ± 1.30 for FCS. Among the fatty acids detected, the products had a higher percentage of lauric acid, with values ranging from 37.89 ± 0.89% to 44.45 ± 3.16%. The FC and FCS products showed promising results, indicating that fermented coconut milk beverages are suitable for the development of new functional products with high acceptability by the consumer. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-021-05303-1.

Statistical optimization of exopolysaccharide production by Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides JF17 from native Atlantic Forest juçara fruit.

Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides belongs to a group of lactic acid bacteria normally isolated from fruits, which has the capacity to produce exopolysaccharides (EPS). The present study aimed to optimize the EPS production of L. pseudomesenteroides JF17, isolated from juçara fruits (palm trees threatened with extinction in the Atlantic Forest), using the response surface methodology (RSM), besides evaluating the fermentation kinetics. The maximum production of EPS 53.77 mg/mL was obtained under ideal conditions of MRS broth supplemented with sucrose at 18%, w/v, fermentation temperature of 20 °C and initial pH of 7.30. The Luedeking-Piret model suggested that the production of EPS by the JF17 strain appeared to be associated with the cell growth of the microorganism, in addition to having high efficiency in the production of the polysaccharide from the substrate (Yp/s = 17.85 ± 0.74 mg EPS/log CFU ). Thus, the ideal optimization conditions and kinetic parameters can be useful for increasing the scale up of the fermentation process in the industrial production of EPS by L. pseudomesenteroides JF17.

Saccharomyces boulardii: Optimization of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of cell production in organic and conventional apple substrate pulp.

A face-centered factorial design was used to study the influence of temperature, cellulase, and pectinase concentration on the production of Saccharomyces boulardii cells during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of organic and conventional apple substrate pulp. The effects of the variables fermentation temperature (25-35 °C), pectinase concentration (5-25 µL/100 g), and cellulase concentration (4-8 µL/100 g) were analyzed by multiple regression and polynomial models of second order, providing the ideal conditions for yeast cultivation. Cellular production of apple substrates was expressed in log CFU/mL. The optimum condition for temperature was 27.5 °C, and 20 and 5 µL/100 g for pectinase and 8 and 7 µL/100 g for cellulase concentrations for organic and conventional apple pulp, respectively. The observed viability values were in agreement with the predicted values of 8.352 log CFU/mL (organic) and 8.317 log CFU/mL (conventional) apple pulps, thus proving the effectiveness of the models.