Functional probiotic products based on fermented buckwheat with Lactobacillus rhamnosus

The fact that most probiotic products are milk based, naturally evokes the idea to develop other than dairy formulas. Therefore, the buckwheat mashes were fermented with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of the Fresco DVS 1010 culture and probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. The effect of single and co-culture fermentation was studied at 37 ± 0.5 °C for 8 h (5% CO2), afterwards with storage period for 14 days (6 ± 0.5 °C). Fresco culture showed good growth in all prepared mashes (specific growth rates ranged from 0.66 to 1.47 h−1), with higher counts in case of co-culture fermentation (8.8–44.9%). Probiotic strain Lb. rhamnosus GG during co-culture fermentation was able to grow from initial cell counts 5.9–6.7 log CFU ml−1 to final 8.4–9.0 log CFU ml−1 and levels higher than 6 log CFU ml−1 remained during cold storage. However, when LAB were in co-culture, 8 h was required to reach a pH value of 4.5 minimizing outgrowth of the contaminating microbiota. Based on the overall acceptance of final products, in case of single fermentation 14 days storage period gave the most acceptable products with points ranging from 3.3 to 3.7, while co-culture fermented products were the most acceptable after 7 days of storage (2.4–3.4).