The lactic acid bacteria of fermented fruits and vegetables

Vegetables fermented foods and beverages are traditional worldwide consumed foodstuffs, since fermentation is one of the most important methods of food preservation still in use for vegetables and fruits. Several species of lactic acid bacteria are involved in the fermentation of vegetable matrices. These microorganisms transform raw materials trough their metabolism conferring specific nutritional and organoleptic properties to the product. The industrial demand of standardization of the product and the process, as well as the need to ensure food safety, require to drive a controlled fermentation. Therefore, selected cultures of lactic acid bacteria are recommended as microbial starter for industrial fermentations. In the last years, an increasing interest has been generated about the beneficial role played by lactic acid bacteria in the gut environment. For this reason, fermented food and beverages from vegetables have been proposed as optimal carriers to deliver probiotic bacteria and for the elaboration of functional foods. In this chapter, we shall provide a background on the key role of lactic acid bacteria in vegetable fermentations, focusing on both traditional and innovative applications for the food industry.