Table Olive Fermentation Using Starter Cultures with Multifunctional Potential

Abstract

Table olives are one of the most popular plant-derived fermented products. Their enhanced nutritional value due to the presence of phenolic compounds and monounsaturated fatty acids makes olives an important food commodity of the Mediterranean diet. However, despite its economic significance, table olive fermentation is mainly craft-based and empirically driven by the autochthonous microbiota of the olives depending on various intrinsic and extrinsic factors, leading to a spontaneous process and a final product of variable quality. The use of microorganisms previously isolated from olive fermentations and studied for their probiotic potential and technological characteristics as starter cultures may contribute to the reduction of spoilage risk resulting in a controlled fermentation process. This review focuses on the importance of the development and implementation of multifunctional starter cultures related to olives with desirable probiotic and technological characteristics for possible application on table olive fermentation with the main purpose being the production of a health promoting and sensory improved functional food.

Do Best-Selected Strains Perform Table Olive Fermentation Better than Undefined Biodiverse Starters? A Comparative Study

“…To improve the onset of favourable physical-chemical conditions during the early process stages, brines from previous fermentations can be used as microbial inoculum for new batches, according to the back-slopping method [3,4]. Thus, in several productions, natural fermentation is replaced by the use of microbial starters, yeast-or LAB-based, to enhance the fermentation performances, speeding up the acidification of brines [2], preventing the proliferation of spoilage bacteria [5], or conferring probiotic characteristics to the product [6,7]. The microbial starters used for table olives can be made by few (or even one) species and strains, as in the case of the selected starter…”

Fermented Foods and Beverages in Human Diet and Their Influence on Gut Microbiota and Health

“…One example of fermented foods as good matrices to delivering probiotics to the host are table olives, an important food commodity of the Mediterranean diet and one of the most important agricultural products that are consume fermented, which at same time do not contain lactose and cholesterol. Table olives are generally fermented by natural indigenous LAB and/or by some yeasts present in the olives [18,19].…”

Yeast Ecology of Fermented Table Olives: A Tool for Biotechnological Applications

“…For extensive information on selection of yeasts as starter cultures for table olives, Refs. [32,82] are thorough reviews with step by step procedures to follow.…”