Authors
Title
Abstract
The objective of the research study was to design and produce a probiotic vegetable juice of a proper microbiological and sensory quality. Five potentially probiotic bacterial strains were used, i.e.: Lactobacillus plantarum,, Lb. rhamnosus (two strains), Lb. brevis, and Lb. pentosus to perform a controlled fermentation of cabbage juice and cabbage juice with apple juice added. The sensory assessed juice that was fermented using an Lb. plantarum K1 strain was rated the highest. During the entire storage, the count of lactic acid bacteria was at the same level, which ranged from 8.76 to 9.17 log jtk/cm3. Depending on the storage temperature, the pH value decreased gradually from 4.17 to a level of 3.61 ÷ 3.34. After a 16 day period of storage, the overall sensory quality of juices stored at 4 and 8 ºC declined; this could probably be caused by a considerable degree of their acidity. In the juices stored at 15 ºC, after the 8th day of storage, a reduction below a level of 5 j.u. was reported in the overall sensory quality. It was confirmed that there was a possibility of using the Lb. plantarum K1 strain to produce a fermented cabbage juice with apple juice added; such fermented juice would have an acceptable sensory quality and would contain a sufficient count (108 cfu/cm3) of lactic acid bacteria.
Keywords
cabbage juice, probiotics, fermentation, lactic acid bacteria, Lactobacillus plantarum