Effects of Pleurotus eryngii polysaccharides on bacterial growth, texture properties, proteolytic capacity, and angiotensin-I-converting enzyme-inhibitory activities of fermented milk.

Pleurotus eryngii is one of the most favored oyster mushrooms and contains various beneficial bioactive compounds. Polysaccharide extracted from P. eryngii (PEPS) was added as a natural-source ingredient to milk before fermentation, and the effects of additional PEPS on fermented milk were investigated in this study. The PEPS were extracted and added to reconstituted skim milk (12%, wt/vol) at 0.5, 0.25, and 0.125% (wt/vol) and fermented by a non-exopolysaccharide-producing strain, Streptococcus thermophilus Australian Starter Culture Collection (ASCC) 1303 (ST 1303), or an exopolysaccharide-producing Strep. thermophilus ASCC 1275 (ST 1275). Bacterial growth, texture properties, microstructure, proteolytic capacity, and angiotensin-I-converting enzyme-inhibitory activities of fermented milk (FM) were determined during refrigerated storage at 4°C for 21d. Viable counts of starter bacteria in FM with 0.5% PEPS added were the highest. Changes in pH were consistent with changes in titratable acidities for all samples. The FM samples with added PEPS showed denser protein aggregates containing larger serum pores in confocal micrographs compared with those without PEPS at d 0 and 21during refrigerated storage. The values for spontaneous whey separation of FM with added PEPS were significantly higher than those of FM fermented by ST 1303 or ST 1275 without PEPS. The proteolytic activities of ST 1303 of FM with added PEPS were higher than those of FM fermented by ST 1303 without PEPS. The FM with added 0.125% PEPS had similar angiotensin-I-converting enzyme-inhibitory activity to that fermented by ST 1303 without PEPS; both were higher than those of other samples during refrigerated storage. Firmness and gumminess values of FM with added PEPS were higher than those of FM fermented by ST 1303 or ST 1275 without PEPS.