Fermentative capabilities of native yeast strains grown on juices from different Agave species used for tequila and mezcal production.

The Asparagaceae family is endemic from America, being the Agave genus the most important. The Agave species possess economic relevance and are use as raw material to produce several distilled alcoholic beverages, as bacanora, tequila, and mezcal. The fermentation process has been carry out either spontaneously or by adding a selected yeast strain.

Identification of predominant yeasts associated with artisan Mexican cocoa fermentations using culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches.

The process of cocoa fermentation is a very important step for the generation or aromatic compounds, which are attributable to the metabolism of the microorganisms involved. There are some reports about this process and the identification of microorganisms; however, there are no reports identifying the yeasts involved in a Mexican cocoa fermentation process using molecular biology techniques, including restricted fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The aim of this study was to identify the main yeast species associated with Mexican cocoa fermentations employing culture-dependent and -independent techniques achieving two samplings with a 1 year time difference at the same site.

Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Mexican oregano essential oils (Lippia graveolens H. B. K.) with different composition when microencapsulated in beta-cyclodextrin.

Aims: To study how the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Lippia graveolens essential oils with different composition are affected after the microencapsulation process with beta-cyclodextrin (beta CD).

Methods And Results: Three Mexican oregano essential oils (EOs) with different carvacrol/thymol/p-cymene ratios (38 : 3 : 32, 23 : 2 : 42, 7 : 19 : 35) were used in this study. Microencapsulation was carried out by spray-drying.