Screening of dominant strains in red sour soup from Miao nationality and the optimization of inoculating fermentation conditions.

Red sour soup is a traditional fermented product in southwest China. Currently, the existing production process mainly adopts the method of natural fermentation, with long fermentation cycles and poor stability between batches. Rapid establishment of dominant strains can accelerate the formation of lactic acid, which can inhibit the growth of miscellaneous bacteria. It is also helpful for the inhibition of nitrite accumulation, shortening of fermentation. In this study, the dominant strain H9, with lactic acid-producing ability, was isolated from the natural fermented red sour soup, and was identified as Lactobacillus buchneri, based on the 16s rRNA sequence analysis and biochemical identification. Then, the optimization of fermentation conditions was performed using L. buchneri H9 strain as external bacteria. The optimized fermentation conditions were temperature of 22°C, starch dosage of 11.24 g/L, and initial inoculation of 3.5 × 108 cfu/L. The concentration of lactic acid reached 8.029 g/L after 8 days of inoculating fermentation, which exceeded 6.221 g/L for 20 days of natural fermentation. Compared with natural fermentation, the peak of nitrite during inoculating fermentation appeared earlier and the peak height was lower. While the nitrite content in inoculating fermentation decreased to safety threshold more quickly. The volatile flavor compounds analysis showed that 41 types of volatile compounds were detected in the inoculating fermentation product, while 45 in the natural fermentation product. Over 88% compounds were overlapped, which means similar flavor between two fermentation products. These results provide a sufficient scientific basis for the industrialized production of inoculating fermentation of red sour soup.