Salt-reduced takanazuke produced with an isolated starter strain

Abstract

To reduce the amount of salt added during the production of takanazuke, two isolated bacterial strains, B17-4 (Lactobacillus ( para ) plantarum) and C120-3 (Pediococcus parvulus), were used as starter strains. Takanazuke with bacterial starter was incubated with 2% (w/w) NaCl, and 6% (w/w) NaCl was added to takanazuke without starter as a control. Takanazuke was incubated at the average monthly temperatures in the Aso region (10.8 - 25.0°C). pH decreased to 4.3 with strain B17-4 and 4.2 with strain C120-3 after 12 days, while it decreased gradually to 4.2 without a starter strain after 40 days. Strain B17-4 produced less lactate and assimilated less reducing sugar than strain C120-3, which seemed to depend on the production of extracellular polysaccharide by strain B17-4. In takanazuke with starter strains and 2% (w/w) NaCl, both B17-4 and C120-3 were dominant in culture during the 181-day study.