2.2. Preparation of starter cultures
The commercial starter culture used in this study was Vege-Start
60 (Chr. Hansen's Biosystems, Horsholm, Denmark), which consists
of a pure freeze-dried starter culture of L. pentosus appropriate for
vegetable fermentation. Vege-Start 60 was activated on MRS agar
for 2 days at 37 C. Approx 20 colonies of Vege-Start 60 were used
to inoculate MRS broths and the cultures were then incubated for
24 h at 37 C under anaerobic condition. After centrifugation using
a Avanti® J-E refrigerated centrifuge (BECKMAN COULTER, USA) at
4500 g for 25 min, the microbial cells were harvested and washed
twice in a sterile saline solution (0.9% NaCl) before mushroom
inoculation.