{"id":48,"date":"2007-04-29T13:19:57","date_gmt":"2007-04-29T20:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bigroom.org\/wordpress\/?p=48"},"modified":"2007-04-29T13:19:57","modified_gmt":"2007-04-29T20:19:57","slug":"tasty-acids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigroom.org\/wordpress\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"Tasty Acids"},"content":{"rendered":"

The story so far – I’ve got 8 live bacterial cultures (and two yeasts) obtained from a bottle of Peach Lambic, imported from Belgium. I strongly suspect that 6 of the 8 are Pediococcus<\/em> species, and the other two are in the Lactobacillus<\/em> genus. It is also possible that some of them might turn out to Leuconostoc<\/em> or some other genus, but I suspect them all to be in the Order Lactobacillales somewhere, anyway.<\/p>\n

Hopefully I’ll be able to get good, definitive sequence data from the bacterial isolates later this week.<\/p>\n

Lactic acid seems to be the predominant acid in Lambic ales, produced by the various bacteria which break down the sugars in the beer and spew out lactic acid as a waste product.<\/p>\n

Pediococcus<\/em> also shows up in wines, where it’s associated with “malolactic fermentation” – where it converts the harsher malic acid into the more mellow-tasting lactic acid.<\/p>\n

Thinking about this led me to think about the other distinctive acids found in foods. Here’s a listing (in no particular order) of some, with foods associated with their distinct flavors:<\/p>\n