Amparo Gamero Lluna
University of Valencia, Spain
Title: Ecology and role of non-conventional yeasts in fermented products
Biography
Biography: Amparo Gamero Lluna
Abstract
Selected Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains are currently used for the manufacture of products such as bread or alcoholic beverages in order to assure process control and homogeneity of the product. Nevertheless, some other products are produced through traditional or spontaneous fermentations in which no starter is added. Additionally, in certain food sectors such as wine making, there is an increasing demand for isolation and selection of autochthonous flora in order to maintain traditional organoleptic properties of the region. In this context, it is crucial to explore the ecology of the fermented products experiencing spontaneous fermentations as well as the properties that those microorganisms have in terms of the development of desirable sensorial attributes. The yeast domain contains around 2000 other species different from S. cerevisiae, which some of them are poorly studied but present a huge potential to be used in industrial fermentations due to their huge diversity of properties, some of them still unknown. Yeasts are able of carrying out alcoholic fermentation, but they can intensely affect aroma and other organoleptic properties of the resulting fermented products as well. Through the study of those properties, novel applications of yeast in food products may arise, thus enriching the diversity of the products coming from the food industry.