Copyright (c) 2021 Magazine specialized in Engineering
Influence of some factors on the lactic acid fermentation of bee pollen
Pollen is a fundamental resource for the nutrition of bees due to its high nutritional value, both in protein and fat; these insects collect it from the flowers and contribute to the hive (bee pollen), where these develop a natural bioprocess, by inducing a fermentation of the pollen within the hive, generating bee bread, an alternative that is considered sustainable for feeding the being human. In the present study, the influence of some factors on the lactic acid fermentation of this plant matrix was evaluated on a laboratory scale. First, the plant matrix was characterized, secondly, the different relationships such as pollen: water (1: 1 and 1: 2), pH adequacy with 5N NaOH (neutralized and not neutralized) were evaluated until reaching a pH close to 6.0, additionally used for the fermentation three starter cultures L. acidophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis and Yomix @ 205, later, acidification and pH were monitored to analyze the different kinetics over time. It was found that the pollen is rich in protein 25.362 ±% and in fat 7.27 ± 0.02 %, with respect to fermentation, a significant change was found for the pollen: water ratio 1: 2 neutralized, being a typical behavior fermentation by decreasing the pH and increasing the acidity for each of the three starter cultures. Subsequently, the viable cells are counted at the end point of the fermentation, finding that the Bifidobacterium lactis culture presented a higher concentration of microorganisms at 47 hours of 2.26 x109 colony- forming units/g, compared to other
Copyright (c) 2021 Magazine specialized in Engineering
