Conclusions
Taking into account the increasing complexity of the needs of different typologies of consumers, including vegan vegetarian and subjects with intolerance/allergy to dairy products, we applied an integrated technological approach in this work to obtain kefir-like beverages from an updated selection of vegetable substrates, using commercial water kefir microorganisms. Analysis were performed to address their microbial composition, physico-chemical characteristics and sensory profile, in order to evaluate the preservation of vegetable and kefir synergistic properties that exert benefits to the human health in the final beverages and test their appreciation by potential consumers.
We developed new-functional non-dairy beverages whose heterogeneous microbial characteristics reflected the same codominance of LAB and yeasts typical of traditional milk or water kefirs. In addition, physico-chemical and organoleptic properties of some vegetable-based KLBs, especially carrot KLB, well met the expectations and tastes of panellists. The beverages produced in this work may help to link the gap between the actual and an ideal and innovative consumption of vegetables, recommended in human diet. Characterization of some KLBs was by the presence of molecules with antioxidant activity giving an additional benefit to the experimental products, suggesting their production at large scale as healthy products, satisfying a wider range of consumers and showing a new way of vegetable administration. The new products might represent important foods providing live microorganisms to vegan people with a limited availability of fermented products.