BIOCHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TRADITIONAL ROMANIAN FERMENTED DRINKS - SOCATA AND BORȘ - A REVIEW

Fermented beverages are products that involve biochemical changes during the microaerophilic processes under the action of microorganisms and their secreted enzymes. Food fermentations include four main processes: lactic fermentation, alcoholic fermentation, acetic fermentation (which is an aerobic process) and alkaline fermentation. In this paper we aim to review the studies carried out on two Romanian traditional non-dairy fermented beverages which have not benefited of the attention they deserve, such as elderflower (Sambucus nigra) fermented drink (socata) and sour liquid soup seasoning (borș). These drinks are derived from a sweetened infusion of elder flowers (socata) and wheat bran (borș) that are fermented by consortia of microorganisms. Socata was shown to be fermented by consortia of yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Borș is produced by fermentation with heterofermentative LAB. These traditional fermented beverages are characterized as a source of probiotics. Previous research has demonstrated that both are a rich source of bioactive/antioxidant flavonoids and phenolic acids, minerals and vitamins. Several techniques are used for the determination of the bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity, such as the determination of individual phenolic compounds using HPLC, determination of total phenolic content using Folin- Ciocalteu reagent, determination of ABTS and DPPH radical cation scavenging activity, determination of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay.