Production of black table olives from cv. Gemlik grown in various districts of the Cukurova region and studies on the development of starter cultures

In this project, ripening stage of cv. Gemlik grown in various districts of Çukurova region (Tarsus, Sarıçam, Bahçe, Serinyol) was followed and the suitability of these olives for the production of naturally fermented (brined) black table olives using various technological methods was investigated. According to the results, table olives produced from Bahçe and Sarıçam districts in the presence of 8% and 10% NaCl were much more preferred than the others. The most dominant lactic acid bacterium during the fermentations of black table olives was Lactobacillus plantarum. Lactobacillus casei, Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides were also isolated. The dominant yeasts were Candida boidinii, Wickerhamomyces anomolus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A total of 17 lactic acid bacteria were selected and their technological properties were determined. Two Lactobacillus plantarum isolates coded as 2455 and 3635 were selected as potential starter cultures due to their high fermentation rate and yield, good growth ability at different temperatures, pH and salt concentrations, exhibiting antimicrobial activity against indicator pathogenic bacteria and presence of high β-glucosidase and esterase activities than the others.