Sains Malaysiana 51(11)(2022): 3715-3729

http://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2022-5111-16

Effects of Starter Culture and Sweetener on Biochemical Compounds and Microbial Diversity of Kombucha Tea

(Kesan Kultur Pemula dan Pemanis pada Sebatian Biokimia serta Kepelbagaian Mikrob Teh Kombucha)

AHMAD AZFARALARIFF^1,6, BATUL VOHRA², SHAZRUL FAZRY^1,2,3, DOUGLAS LAW⁵, FAREED SAIRI⁴ & BABUL AIRIANAH OTHMAN^1,2,3,*

¹Department of Food Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

²Tasik Chini Research Center, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

³Innovative Centre for Confectionery Technology (MANIS), Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

⁴Department of Biology Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

⁵Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Inti International University, Persiaran Perdana BBN Putra Nilai, 71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

⁶Bioresource Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia

Received: 22 March 2022/Accepted: 28 June 2022

Abstract

Kombucha tea has been claimed to have several health benefits. Many factors influence the properties of kombucha tea produced. This study focused on the effects of starter cultures (kombucha liquid broth (KLB) and cellulosic pellicle (KCP)) and sweetener (white sugar (S), honey (H) and jaggery (J)) used in the production of kombucha tea. The results showed that all kombucha teas prepared using KLB had a lower pH and a higher concentration of acetic acid during fermentation. The ethanol content for samples prepared using KLB increased (0.7 ± 0.26 mg/L to 1.73 ± 0.58 mg/L) during the fermentation period, compared to KCP which was the maximum after 72 h fermentation, and continued to decrease (2.97 ± 1.24 mg/L to 0.90 ± 0.44 mg/L). Although not too much differences in pH and ethanol content were observed when different sweetener sources were used, they did have significant differences in antioxidant properties and antimicrobial activity. Samples prepared using jaggery had the lowest antioxidant activity while kombucha tea prepared using KLB and white sugar (KLB-S) had the highest antioxidant and antibacterial activity and was mostly colonized by Acetobacteracea and Aspergillus fumigatus. Fermentation significantly increases the number of active compounds present in KLB-S from 11 to 25 compounds. New compounds such as docosanedioic acid, muramic acid and thiolactomycin were formed. Thiolactomycin, a natural antibiotic is suggested to contribute to the high antimicrobial activity of KLB-S. In conclusion, KLB and white sugar are better suited in preparing kombucha tea as more benefits and consistent results were observed.

Keywords: Antimicrobial; antioxidant; cellulose; kombucha; pellicle; starter cultures

Abstrak

Teh kombucha dilaporkan mempunyai pelbagai manfaat kesihatan. Terdapat banyak faktor yang mempengaruhi ciri-ciri teh kombucha yang dihasilkan. Kajian ini memberi tumpuan kepada kesan penggunaan kultur pemula (air teh kombucha (KLB) dan lapisan selulosa (KCP)) serta pemanis (gula putih (S), madu (H) dan gula palma (J)) yang berbeza dalam penghasilan teh kombucha. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa semua teh kombucha yang disediakan menggunakan KLB mempunyai pH yang lebih rendah dan kepekatan asid asetik yang lebih tinggi sepanjang tempoh fermentasi. Kandungan etanol untuk sampel yang disediakan menggunakan KLB juga semakin meningkat (0.7 ± 0.26 mg/L kepada 1.73 ± 0.58 mg/L) sepanjang tempoh fermentasi, berbanding KCP yang mempunyai kepekatan maksimum selepas 72 jam dan terus menurun (2.97 ± 1.24 mg/L hingga 0.90 ± 0.44 mg/L). Walaupun tiada perbezaan yang ketara pada pH dan kandungan etanol direkodkan apabila sumber pemanis yang berbeza digunakan, keputusan analisis menunjukkan perbezaan yang ketara dilihat pada sifat antioksidan dan aktiviti antimikrob. Sampel yang disediakan menggunakan gula palma mempunyai aktiviti antioksida yang paling rendah manakala teh kombucha yang disediakan menggunakan klb dan gula putih (klb-s) mempunyai aktiviti antioksida dan antibakteria yang paling tinggi dan dikoloni oleh acetobacteracea dan aspergillus fumigatus. fermentasi didapati telah mengubah komposisi sebatian aktif yang terdapat dalam klb-s daripada 11 sebatian kepada 25 sebatian. sebatian baru seperti asid dokosanedioik, asid muramik dan tiolaktomisin telah terhasil. tiolaktomisin yang merupakan antibiotik semula jadi dalam sampel klb-s dipercayai menjadi punca aktiviti antimikrob yang tinggi. sebagai kesimpulan, klb dan gula putih lebih sesuai digunakan dalam penyediaan teh kombucha kerana menghasilkan teh kombucha yang lebih banyak faedah dan keputusan yang lebih konsisten.

Kata kunci: Antimikrob; antioksida; kombucha; kultur pemula; pelikel; selulosa

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^*Corresponding author; email: airianah@ukm.edu.my