The exopolysaccharides produced by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus NCFB 2772 grown in defined medium were investigated. At equal cell densities, the strain produced 95 mg l−1 exopolysaccharides with glucose and 30 mg l−1 with fructose as the carbohydrate source. High-performance size-exclusion chromatography of the exopolysaccharides produced on glucose showed the presence of two fractions with relative molecular masses (Mr) of 1.7 × 106 and 4 × 104 in almost equal amounts. The exopolysaccharides produced on fructose contained mainly a fraction of low Mr of 4 × 104. The high-Mr fraction of the purified exopolysaccharides produced on glucose appeared to have a sugar composition of galactose, glucose and rhamnose in the molar ratio of 5:1:1, whereas the low-Mr weight fraction contained galactose, glucose and rhamnose in the molar ratio of approximately 11:1:0.4. The purified exopolysaccharide fractions produced on fructose showed comparable ratios. The high-molecular-mass fractions contained terminally linked galactose, 1,2,3-linked galactose, 1,3,4-linked galactose, 1,3-linked glucose and terminally linked rhamnose. The low-molecular-mass fractions contained mainly 1,3-linked galactose and 1,6-linked galactose and lower amounts of other sugar linkages. The production of the high-Mr fractions appeared to be dependent on the carbohydrate source, whereas the low-Mr fractions were produced more continuously.