The Promotion of Biotication in Controlled Fermentation Using Kefir Grains and Kombucha Membranes as Starter Cultures

Abstract

Through the centuries, fermented foods have demonstrated their bioactivity, usefulness, and sustainability in promoting the increase of life quality through multiple actions in vivo and in vitro. Fermented foods, through the complex biotransformation of substrate components, enrich the final products with useful biotics, i.e., prebiotics, probiotic microorganisms, and their metabolites named postbiotics. The artisanal cultures, milk, water kefir grains, and kombucha (SCOBY) membranes are functional and sustainable microbial symbiotic cultures that offer approachable opportunities for obtaining valuable functional foods and ingredients. These consortia are formed by the natural association of the bacteria (lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria), yeasts, and bacteriophages. Various conventional and unconventional substrates can be transformed into functional fermented products based on the complex metabolism of these microorganisms in controlled fermentations targeting the improvement of the biotication, i.e., increase the contents of pre-, pro-, and postbiotics. Thus, the complex biochemical activities of the multiple microorganisms from the natural consortia could be exploited in controlled fermentation conditions to obtain the beneficial effects for in vitro and in vivo features of the obtained fermented products.