Selection of an Osmotolerant Yeast for Worcestershire Sauce Production

Abstract

Worcestershire sauce production might include a fermentation step. The raw materials have high osmotic pressure, so we set out to select an osmotolerant yeast strain suitable for Worcestershire sauce production. Three commonly used yeasts were evaluated: Saccharomyces cerevisiae OC-2, a wine yeast; Kluyveromyces fragilis IFO 0288, widely used for fermentation of kefir grains; and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii IFO 0493, a soy sauce yeast. In the range of total sugar concentrations of 28.1-47.8% (the mixture contained sucrose, glucose, and fructose), cell numbers and ethanol production decreased as the sugar concentration rose, especially with K. fragilis. The relationship between the total sugar concentration and ethanol production by each yeast was oexpressed as follows. Copyright © 1994, Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry. All rights reserved.