Introduction: Lactobacillus genus is classified in the large group of lactic acid bacteria. All the organisms are gram positive and produce lactic acid by fermentation. These bacteria are found naturally in various foods and have been considered as a natural preservative in some of the traditional foods since the ancient times. The aim of this study is to evaluate the technological properties and usability of lactobacilli isolated from the traditional cow and sheep cheeses as starters in cheese and other fermented products.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 12 Lactobacillus strains were obtained from the six traditional sheep and cow cheeses in Sangesar area (Semnan, Iran). Lactobacillus strains were confirmed by phenotypic tests. The isolated strains were evaluated as starter by the technical tests such as growth, acid production, proteolytic, amilolytic and autolytic activities.
Results: The optimum growth temperature was at 30˚C for all the isolated strains. The highest growth rate was in the two isolated strains from cow cheese; LB2-1and LB2-5, respectively. The proteolytic activity was observed in three isolated strains from cow cheese; LB2-1, LB2-4and LB2-6, and the strain isolated from sheep cheeses (LB1-3). Amilolytic activity was observed in none of the isolated strains. The highest rate of acid production and autolytic activity was observed in isolated strain from cow cheeses (LB2-2) and the strain isolated from sheep cheese (LB1-1).
Conclusion: In this study the isolated lactobacilli from traditional Sangesar cheeses showed desirable technological characteristics and high potential for application as a starter
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