Fermentación De Quesos

INAUGURAL ISSUE
Fermentations
in World
Food Processing
K.H. Steinkraus, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Microbiology and Food Science
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY l4853

Introduction (Steinkraus 1995, 1996a, 1997)
Fermented foods are food substrates that are invaded or overgrown by edible microorganisms whose enzymes, particularly
amylases, proteases, lipases hydrolyze the polysaccharides,proteins and lipids to nontoxic products with flavors, aromas and textures pleasant and attractive to the human consumer. If the products of enzyme activities have unpleasant odors or undesirable,
unattractive flavors or the products are toxic or disease producing, the foods are described as spoiled.
Fermentation plays at least five roles in food processing:
(1) Enrichment of the human dietarythrough development of a
wide diversity of flavors, aromas and textures in food;
(2) Preservation of substantial amounts of food through lactic
acid, alcoholic, acetic acid, alkaline fermentations and high salt
fermentations;
(3) Enrichment of food substrates biologically with vitamins,
protein, essential amino acids and essential fatty acids;
(4) Detoxification during food fermentationprocessing and
(5) a decrease in cooking times and fuel requirements.

Classification of Food
Fermentations (Steinkraus 1995, 1997)
Food fermentations can be classified in a number of ways (Dirar
1993): by categories (Yokotsuka 1982)— (1) alcoholic beverages
fermented by yeasts; (2) vinegars fermented with Acetobacter; (3)
milks fermented with lactobacilli; (4) pickles fermented withlactobacilli; (5) fish or meat fermented with lactobacilli; and, (6) plant
proteins fermented with molds with or without lactobacilli and
yeasts; by classes (Campbell-Platt 1987) (1) beverages; (2) cereal
products; (3) dairy products; (4) fish products; (5) fruit and vegetable products; (6) legumes; and, (7) meat products; by commodity
(Odunfa 1988) (1) fermented starchy roots; (2) fermented cereals;(3) alcoholic beverages; (4) fermented vegetable proteins; and, (5)
fermented animal protein; by commodity (Kuboye 1985) (1) cassava based; (2) cereal; (3) legumes; and, (4) beverages. Dirar
(1993) states that the Sudanese traditionally classify their foods,
not on the basis of microorganisms or commodity but on a functional basis: (1) Kissar (staples)-porridges and breads such as aceda andkissra; (2) Milhat (sauces and relishes for the staples); (3)
marayiss (30 types of opaque beer, clear beer, date wines and
meads and other alcoholic drinks); and, (4) Akil-munasabat (food
for special occasions). Steinkraus (1983a; 1996) classified fermentations according to the following categories that will serve as the
basis for this paper:
© 2002 Institute of Food Technologists

1.Fermentations producing textured vegetable protein meat
substitutes in legume/cereal mixtures. Examples are Indonesian
tempe and ontjom.
2. High salt/savory meat-flavored/amino acid/peptide sauce
and paste fermentations. Examples are Chinese soy sauce, Japanese shoyu and Japanese miso, Indonesian kecap, Malaysian kicap, Korean kanjang, Taiwanese inyu, Philippine taosi, Indonesian tauco, Koreandoenjang/kochujang, fish sauces: Vietnamese
nuocmam, Philippine patis, Malaysian budu, fish pastes: Philippine bagoong, Malaysian belachan, Vietnamese mam, Cambodian prahoc, Indonesian trassi and Korean jeotkal. These are predominately Oriental fermentations but the use of these products is
becoming established in the United States.
3. Lactic acid fermentations. Examples of vegetable lactic acidfermentations are: sauerkraut, cucumber pickles, olives in the
Western world; Egyptian pickled vegetables in the middle East; Indian pickled vegetables and Korean kim-chi, Thai pak-sian -dong,
Chinese hum-choy, Malaysian pickled vegetables and Malaysian
tempoyak. Lactic acid fermented milks include: yogurts in the
Western world, Russian kefir, Middle-East yogurts, liban (Iraq), Indian dahi,...