Design of a New Fermented Beverage from Medicinal Plantsand Organic Sugarcane Molasses via Lactic Fermentation.

Functional beverages obtained using medicinal plants and fermented with lactic acidbacteria are gaining much interest from the scientific community, driven by the growing demand forfood and beverages with beneficial properties. In this work, three different batches of medicinal plantsand organic sugarcane molasses, named FB-lc, FB-sp and FB-lcsp, were prepared and fermented byusingLactobacillus acidophilusATCC 43121,Bifidobacterium breveB632 and a mix of both strains’ culture,respectively. The three fermented beverages revealed a high level of polyphenols (expressed as gallicacid equivalent), ranging from 182.50 to 315.62μg/mL. The highest content of flavonoids (152.13μgquercetin equivalent/mL) and tannins (93.602μg catechin equivalent/mL) was detected in FB-lcsptrial. The IR spectroscopy analysis showed a decrease in sugar (pyranose forms, D-glucopyranoseand rhamnosides). In addition, the aromatic compounds of the fermented beverages, detected byGC-MS headspace analysis, showed twenty-four interesting volatile compounds, which could givepositive aroma attributes to the flavor of the beverages. The highest antioxidant activity was observedin the beverage obtained by the mix culture strains. Accordingly, the production of these beveragescan be further investigated for considering their well-being effects on human health.