Starter culture

A starter culture is a selected community of microorganisms added to food ingredients to initiate and guide fermentation. Its organisms help shape the product’s acidity, flavor, texture, and safety.

Lactic acid fermentation: A metabolic process in which microorganisms convert sugars chiefly into lactic acid. Many food starters acidify their substrate through this pathway.
Yogurt: A fermented milk product made by bacterial acidification, typically using Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. Its standard bacterial pair exemplifies a defined dairy starter.
Lactic acid bacteria: A broad group of bacteria that produce lactic acid as a major product of carbohydrate fermentation. These bacteria are among the most widely used organisms in food starter cultures.
Spontaneous fermentation: Fermentation initiated by microorganisms already present on ingredients or in the environment, without deliberate inoculation. It relies on indigenous microbes rather than an intentionally added starter.
Alcoholic fermentation: A metabolic process in which microorganisms convert sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Yeasts in starters use this pathway to produce alcohol and leavening gas.
Sourdough: A fermented dough leavened by a community of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. Its culture can persist through repeated refreshments rather than being replaced each batch.
Yeast: A group of single-celled fungi that reproduce by budding or fission and ferment sugars. Yeasts supply gas, alcohol, and aroma compounds in many mixed food cultures.
Wild fermentation: Fermentation driven by naturally occurring microorganisms rather than a deliberately selected culture. It contrasts controlled inoculation with fermentation based on resident microbial populations.
Inoculation: The introduction of microorganisms into a substrate, host, or growth medium. Adding the culture establishes the microbial population that drives fermentation.
Kombucha: A fermented tea produced by a symbiotic community of bacteria and yeasts. Its mixed culture converts sweetened tea into an acidic, lightly alcoholic drink.

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