Application of starter cultures to table olive fermentation: an overview on the experimental studies

Aldo Corsetti,Giorgia Perpetuini,Giovanna Suzzi,Maria Schirone,Rosanna Tofalo

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00248

Abstract

Table olives are one of the oldest fermented foods and are considered as an important component of the Mediterranean diet, since their richness in monounsaturated fats (primarily oleic acid) and phenolic compounds may function as antioxidants in the human body; in the Western world they represent one of the most popular fermented vegetables but, despite its economic significance, table olive fermentation is still craft-based and empirical. In particular, such a type of fermentation results from the competitive activities among indigenous, contaminating microorganisms, the microbial balance depending on several intrinsic (pH, water activity, diffusion of nutrients from the drupe, and level of anti-microbial compounds) and extrinsic (temperature, oxygen availability, and salt concentration) factors. At present, to reduce the risk of spoilage and to achieve a more predictable process there is an increasing interest in developing starter cultures for table olives fermentation. Anyway, the application of starter cultures in the field of table olives is quite far from reaching the diffusion as it has in other sectors of food industry (e.g., dairy products and alcoholic beverages). This review focuses on experimental researches devoted to studying starter cultures for possible application to table olive fermentation both at artisan and industrial level.

Highlights

The development of fermentation technologies is lost in the mists of history
At first, fermented foods were obtained through spontaneous fermentation but this kind of process often resulted in an uncontrollable fermentation, so different skills have been developed for controlling technical parameters during the fermentation processes
In some sectors of food industry the fermentation is controlled through the inoculation of selected starter cultures

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The development of fermentation technologies is lost in the mists of history. Fermented foods and beverages such as bread, cheese, table olives, wine, and beer have been prepared and consumed for thousands of years and are strongly linked to culture and tradition, especially, in rural households, and village communities. TABLE OLIVE FERMENTATION Table olives are defined as pickled vegetables, that is those products, in which preparation and preservation is achieved by a combination of salting, fermentation, and/or acidification. The. Trade Standard Applying to Table Olives of International Olive Oil Council (IOOC, 2004) defines table olives as “the sound fruit of varieties of the cultivated olive trees (Olea europea L.) that are chosen for their production of olive whose volume, shape, flashto-stone ratio, fine flesh, taste, firmness, and ease of detachment from the stone make them suitable for processing; treated to remove their bitterness and preserved by natural fermentation; or by heat treatment, with or without the addition of preservatives; packed with or without covering liquid.”. The main purposes of processing are the removal of fruit bitterness by hydrolysis of some phenolic compounds like oleuropein (Ciafardini et al, 1994), the achievement of a preservation effect, and the improvement of the organoleptic characteristics of the final product

Starter cultures for table olive fermentation

Green olives

Findings

CONCLUSION