Water kefir in co-fermentation with Saccharomyces boulardii for the development of a new probiotic mead.

ABSTRACT

Mead is an alcoholic beverage obtained by fermenting a dilute solution of honey with yeasts. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a probiotic mead from the co-fermentation of water kefir and Sacharomyces boulardii. According to the results, the combination of 10 g/L of water kefir grains and 0.75 g/L of S. boulardii, with a fermentation time of 9 days, produced a probiotic mead with a viable cell count of more than 8 Log10 CFU/mL of S. boulardii and also for lactic acid bacteria, respectively. S. boulardii and lactic acid bacteria showed counts of over 6 Log10 CFU/mL after gastrointestinal simulation in vitro, with a survival rate of over 70%. Probiotic mead has good luminosity (L*), a tendency to yellow color and the presence of total phenolic compounds and antioxidants. In conclusion, the co-fermentation of water kefir and S. boulardii has potential for the development of probiotic mead.