Traditional management of microorganisms in fermented beverages from cactus fruits in Mexico: an ethnobiological approach

Abstract

Background: Fermentation is an ancient technique for preserving and improving the qualities of food and beverages throughout the world. Microbial communities, not seen by the producers of fermented goods, are the actors involved in the fermentation process and are selected upon through different management processes in order to achieve a final product with culturally accepted features. This study documented the preparation of "colonche" which is a type of traditionally fermented beverages made with the fruits from several cactus species in two main producing regions of Mexico, the Altiplano and the Tehuacán Valley. We documented the selection processes of the cactus species used and the practices that could influence microbial community composition, as well as, how the producers reach the desirable sensorial attributes of the beverages. Methods: We conducted 53 semi-structured interviews and participatory observations with colonche producers in 7 communities of the Altiplano and the Tehuacán Valley in order to characterize the practices and processes involved in the elaboration of the beverage. Opuntia and columnar cacti species used in colonche production were collected during fieldwork and identified. Selected sensorial attributes of Opuntia colonches were characterized by a ranking table and visualized by principal component analysis in order to distinguish differences of this beverage in the Altiplano localities. Results: Thirteen cactus species are used for colonche production in both regions studied. In the Altiplano, the most commonly used fruit is Opuntia streptacantha because it contributes to the preferred attributes of the beverage in this region. Selection of substrates by producers depends on their preference and the availability of fruits of O. streptacantha and other species. Fermentation is mainly conducted in clay pots which is perceived to be the best type of vessel contributing to the preferred sensorial properties of colonche. The two main differences in colonche preparation between the villages are the practice of boiling the fruit juice and the use of pulque (fermented sap of Agave species) as inoculum. The most contrasting sensorial attributes selected between localities are the alcohol content and sweetness, which might be in accordance with the practices used for obtaining the final product. Colonche is produced mainly for direct consumption and secondarily used as a commercialized good to be sold for economic gains contributing to the general subsistence of households. The preparation methods are passed on by close relatives, mainly women.

The Power of Wild Plants in Feeding Humanity: A Meta-Analytic Ethnobotanical Approach in the Catalan Linguistic Area

“…The statement of one informant “ n’hi ha a totes les cases ” (‘it is present in every house’) [ 94 , 95 ] is a clear description of the situation, well complemented with the following assertion: “ jo esmorzo cada dia d’un plat de sopa de pa i frigola ” (‘I have for breakfast every day a dish of bread and thyme soup’) [ 96 ]. The predominancy of Thymus vulgaris is very common in Mediterranean ethnobotanical research ([ 18 , 48 ] and references therein). The top five plants account for more than one quarter of the total UR and the 30 first ones, near three quarters of them (respectively 27.85% and 73.57%, Table 1 ).…”

“…in high mountain regions of the Pyrenees [ 16 , 66 ], of Cytinus hypocistis (L.) L. and Pyrus spinosa Forssk. in arid inner areas of Catalonia [ 18 ], of Salicornia patula Duval-Jouve in littoral areas (Marín et al, unpubl. res.)…”

“…Traditional knowledge on plant biodiversity has been collected by ethnobotanical prospection in the studied area in modern times from the pioneering work of Pius Font i Quer [ 64 ] and more recently, and in a continued manner to date, from the first academic works of Mulet [ 65 ] and Muntané [ 66 ]; see a review in Vallès [ 42 ]. The information has been collected through semi-structured ethnobotanical interviews (see details in [ 18 ] and references therein) and included in a database by our research group ( ). The meta-analytic work performed in the present paper covers 31 research studies belonging to different regions throughout the CLA ( Figure 1 , Supplementary Material S1 ).…”

“…In any case, WFP were also known, appreciated and used before these periods, and the traditional knowledge, which was cumulated not only in emergency episodes, persisted, thus allowing the current use of some taxa even further than at local level [ 8 , 9 ]. In industrialised areas, a couple of generations ago WFP were associated with difficult periods, and acculturation processes have occurred but this has not prevented the continued use of various WFP (e.g., in different places [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]).…”

“…This represents a total of 118,537 use reports (UR), of which 69,170 (58.35%) correspond to medicinal uses, 31,415 (26.50%) to food (including beverages) uses, and 17,952 (15.15%) to other uses. Several ethnofloristic or review papers focused on food plants have been published from this cultural area [ 13 , 44 , 45 , 46 ] as well as more general papers containing information on WFP [ 18 , 47 , 48 ] or dealing with reasons for the use of WFP [ 9 ], but to date no attempts to carry out a global or at least major analysis has been performed. Indeed, meta-analytical work on WFP in large areas is, as far as we can see, lacking elsewhere.…”