The use of malolactic Oenococcus oeni (ATCC 39401) for deacidification of media containing glucose, malic acid and citric acid

 Malolactic fermentation is widely used to reduce the acidity of grape juices in wine production. However, application of the same technology to the production of wine from berries of the northern regions is not straightforward. Unlike grapes, these berries are rich in citric and malic acid while the sugar content is low. An ideal deacidification process for the northern berries would be the microbial degradation of these acids with minimal loss of sugars. Therefore, the co-metabolism of citric acid and glucose was studied under different conditions of malic acid degradation by Oenococcus oeni. At low pH values (pH <4.5) degradation of malic acid always proceeded first to completion with practically no consumption of glucose or citric acid. After the exhaustion of malic acid the degradation of both citric acid and glucose were initiated simultaneously. Following the exhaustion of malic acid and citric acid the remaining glucose remained nonfermentable. Thus, it is concluded that, by maintaining the culture in a resting state by the control of pH, selective degradation of acids can be achieved without subsequent loss of glucose. Received: 20 January 2000