Wine Yeasts Selection: Laboratory Characterization and Protocol Review.

Wine reflects the specificity of a terroir, including the native microbiota. In contrast to the use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae commercial starters, a way to maintain wines' microbial terroir identities, guaranteeing at the same time the predictability and reproducibility of the wines, is the selection of autochthonous Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces strains towards optimal enological characteristics for the chosen area of isolation. This field has been explored but there is a lack of a compendium covering the main methods to use. Autochthonous wine yeasts from different areas of Slovakia were identified and tested, in the form of colonies grown either on nutrient agar plates or in grape must micro-fermentations, for technological and qualitative enological characteristics. Based on the combined results, Saccharomyces cerevisiae PDA W 10, Lachancea thermotolerans 5-1-1 and Metschnikowia pulcherrima 125/14 were selected as potential wine starters. This paper, as a mixture of experimental and review contributions, provides a compendium of methods used to select autochthonous wine yeasts. Thanks to the presence of images, this compendium could guide other researchers in screening their own yeast strains for wine production.

Why is sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) so exceptional? A review.

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae L.) is a valuable, multipurpose plant extensively grown in Asia, Europe and Canada. In order to use it in the best way for products of human nutrition, it is necessary to recognize its positive aspects and to eliminate the negative ones. The exceptional value of sea buckthorn can be seen in the presence of both lipophilic antioxidants (mainly carotenoids and tocopherols) and hydrophilic antioxidants (flavonoids, tannins, phenolic acids, ascorbic acid) in remarkably high quantities. Some of the main nutrients, especially lipids of advantageous fatty acid composition, contribute to nutritional benefits of sea buckthorn products for a consumer as well. This review article focuses, besides the above mentioned compounds and vitamins, also on other important components, such as sugars, sugar derivatives, fibre, organic acids, proteins, amino acids and mineral elements. The article also deals with the effects of sea buckthorn components on the course of non-enzymatic browning of food and in vivo glycation. In addition, sensory perception of sea buckthorn and its constituents from the consumers point of view is discussed.