title: Potential use of scotta, the by-product of the ricotta cheese manufacturing process, for the production of fermented drinks.
abstract: In the present work, the use of scotta as substrate for bacterial fermentation was studied with the objective of obtaining a drink from transformation of this by-product. Scotta retains most of the lactose of the milk and it is normally colonized by a natural microbiota. A treatment was devised to reduce the autochthonous microbial populations in order to reduce competition towards the inoculated bacterial strains. Nine lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were assessed for their capability to develop in scotta. They evidenced different behaviors regarding growth rate, acidification capability and nitrogen consumption. A co-inoculum of three LAB, namely a Streptococcus thermophilus, a Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and a Lb. acidophilus strains, chosen among those giving the best performances in single-strain fermentation trials, gave abundant (close to 10(9) cfu/ml) and balanced growth and lowered pH to 4.2, a value similar to that of yogurt. These results show that scotta may have potential as a substrate for bacterial growth for the production of a fermented drink. Further studies are needed to optimize the organoleptic aspects of the final product.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy,Food,Natural resources,Animals and Environment (DAFNAE),University of Padova,viale dell'Università 16,35020 Legnaro (PD),Italy.
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maragkoudakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy,Food,Natural resources,Animals and Environment (DAFNAE),University of Padova,viale dell'Università 16,35020 Legnaro (PD),Italy.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vendramin
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy,Food,Natural resources,Animals and Environment (DAFNAE),University of Padova,viale dell'Università 16,35020 Legnaro (PD),Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bovo
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy,Food,Natural resources,Animals and Environment (DAFNAE),University of Padova,viale dell'Università 16,35020 Legnaro (PD),Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Treu
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy,Food,Natural resources,Animals and Environment (DAFNAE),University of Padova,viale dell'Università 16,35020 Legnaro (PD),Italy.
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Corich
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy,Food,Natural resources,Animals and Environment (DAFNAE),University of Padova,viale dell'Università 16,35020 Legnaro (PD),Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giacomini
mesh_terms: D002611:Cheese / Q000032:analysis* / Q000145:classification; D043302:Cultured Milk Products / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D007778:Lactobacillus; D048249:Streptococcus thermophilus
keywords: Fermentation; Lactobacillus; Streptococcus; lactic acid bacteria; microbiota.