Abstract
Gwell is a traditional mesophilic fermented milk from the Brittany region of France. The fermentation process is based on a back-slopping method. The starter is made from a portion of the previous Gwell production, so that Gwell is both the starter and final product for consumption. In a participatory research framework involving 13 producers, Gwell was characterized from both the sensory and microbial points of view and was defined by its tangy taste and smooth and dense texture. The microbial community of typical Gwell samples was studied using both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches. Lactococcus lactis was systematically identified in Gwell, being represented by both subspecies cremoris and lactis biovar diacetylactis which were always associated. Geotrichum candidum was also found in all the samples. The microbial composition was confirmed by 16S and ITS2 metabarcoding analysis. We were able to reconstruct the history of Gwell exchanges between producers, and thus obtained the genealogy of the samples we analyzed. The samples clustered in two groups which were also differentiated by their microbial composition, and notably by the presence or absence of yeasts identified as Kazachstania servazii and Streptococcus species.
Highlights
Within the huge diversity of fermented milk products, the production of some is based on the use of a natural starter and more related to a specific fermentation practice called back-slopping
Back-slopping enables expression of the typicality associated with the raw material and transformation process but in a controlled manner, the limitation being that in some cases a drift of the final product over time may lead to production defects [7]
The Gwell making process was quite diverse until the 2000s, but it shared at least two main characteristics: use of the back-slopping method, where a batch of a previous Gwell production is used to inoculate thermized milk, and mesophilic fermentation
Summary
Within the huge diversity of fermented milk products, the production of some is based on the use of a natural starter and more related to a specific fermentation practice called back-slopping. Various mesophilic fermented milks have been described among dairy products [3] and include Vilii in Finland, Dahi in India or Dadih in Indonesia, whose process is similar to that of Gwell [11] They are obtained after a thermization step of the milk, by inoculation of a previous day production. Traditional raw goat cheese producers sometimes have to deal with a drift of their production related to the decline in the activity of their natural starter, which has the same defects as Gwell [17] In this context, Gwell offers an interesting model to study the dynamics of the microbial community associated with back-slopping practices and their associated defects. We used metabarcoding to analyze the microbial community in a larger panel of samples so as to obtain an overview of the microbial diversity associated with Gwell exchanges between producers
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