When we want to cook something good made with our own hands, we immediately think of bread, pizza, or a nice cake. All it takes is a bit of yeast (brewer’s yeast in the first two cases, baking powder in the latter), and almost before our eyes the pizza dough left to rest for a few hours increases to two or three times its volume; the same happens with a cake placed in the oven to bake. This is fermentation, the process by which sugars are transformed into carbon dioxide and ethanol, thanks to the action of yeasts.
But what happens when, in order to obtain a “fermented” product, it is no longer possible to determine with the naked eye whether the yeasts are working and whether our efforts have paid off? Not everything visible to the naked eye implies that fermentation is actually taking place or leading to the expected result. Let us try to learn more about those microorganisms that are essential for transforming the products that end up on our tables: yeasts and lactic acid bacteria.
An Innovative Fermentation
In this story of innovation, we would like to talk about other yeasts—or rather, indigenous yeasts. These are not the ones commercially available, but they are important in counteracting the tendency to standardize and flatten the flavors of food and beverages in typical industrial processes. These indigenous yeasts, meaning those belonging to local yeast populations, are highly innovative and, in our case, relate to the wine sector—one of the many areas within the agri-food world in which FoodMicroTeam, a spin-off of the University of Florence, operates.
FoodMicroTeam helps companies—specifically those in the wine sector—move away from widely used and highly standardized commercial fermentation agents and adopt indigenous, native yeasts to carry out alcoholic fermentation. And is the resulting wine good? Not always. It essentially depends on the fermentation process and on the yeasts involved, which influence the final outcome and therefore the pleasantness of the beverage.
Let us clarify this concept further. Indigenous yeasts can be used either by allowing the must to ferment spontaneously thanks to the yeasts naturally present and guiding their activity, or by selecting the most technologically suitable ones and using them as starters—that is, selected microorganisms that trigger the fermentation process—instead of commercial preparations. These two techniques make it possible to enhance the characteristics of the specific grapes and create a product that is truly unique.
In this way, wineries avoid using commercial starters that are widespread worldwide and mostly isolated from French, Australian, or American wines. These preparations make fermentation management easier because they reduce the risk of unwanted fermentation stoppages; at the same time, however, they reduce microbial biodiversity and therefore the differences between wines, at the expense of the typical character of a given area. FoodMicroTeam intervenes in this process by selecting, based on their oenological characteristics, certain strains among those that are dominant and recurring over the years, which then become the winery’s typical yeasts. Companies can thus enhance the distinctiveness of their wines without giving up the practical advantages of fermentation managed with starter preparations.
Easy? Easier said than done. It is not enough to isolate strains belonging to the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae from a spontaneous fermentation—that is, by leaving grape must to ferment without adding commercial starters. How does one proceed? By taking all the necessary time to analyze, monitor, and test the process, following the wine production cycle. It begins with spontaneous fermentation processes in the winery or directly from the grapes. Then, in the laboratory, the yeasts are studied and isolated, and their DNA is analyzed to identify those indigenous to the winery. Among them, those capable of completing fermentation and delivering the desired imprint to the final product must be selected.
The selected strains must be genetically different from the starters normally used by the winery and must possess specific technological characteristics (such as fermentation speed and the inability to produce undesirable organoleptic compounds), verified through microbiological, biomolecular, and chemical analyses. Finally, the process moves from the laboratory back to the winery to verify that what has been tested is actually replicable and that the result truly matches expectations.
Challenges, Difficulties, and Achievements of a Spin-Off
Simona Guerrini explains that FoodMicroTeam participated in a pre-incubation program in 2013 and has been an Academic Spin-Off of the University of Florence since 2014, proposed by Professors Massimo Vincenzini and Lisa Granchi. The group, including Guerrini herself, is made up of microbiologists, agronomists, oenologists, chemists, and food technologists from the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems Management (GESAAF), who provide technical and scientific assistance to agri-food companies, specifically those producing fermented foods and beverages.
Since 2016, when FoodMicroTeam participated in and won the first edition of the Faber project, it has been possible to include in the team a researcher from the University of Florence, Dr. Donatella Ganucci. The Faber project was created to spread a culture of research within small and medium-sized enterprises through the concrete placement of qualified personnel capable of activating research and development pathways within companies. In this specific case, the researcher’s recruitment is based on a three-year project—already renewed at the end of the first year—aimed at conducting studies on the isolation of indigenous winery yeasts and their genetic and technological characterization for use as starters.
The ultimate goal, thanks to collaboration with GESAAF, is to develop a facility directly within wineries for the mass production of properly selected indigenous yeasts, so that they can be used as starters. This collaboration originated within the framework of Sub-measure 16.2 of the Tuscany Region’s Rural Development Program (PSR 2014–2020), titled: Short Supply Chain Producers between the Arno and Sieve – Action 16.2: Winery Production of Native Starter Yeasts (VICASTART).
In light of all this, a source of pride for the entire FoodMicroTeam is having transformed an academic journey into a growing company, at a time when becoming an entrepreneur is a particularly demanding choice. It is an example of resilience within the local territory that can inspire many people to seek and find their own path.
Conclusions
Time flies, but in this story of innovation it spans a long journey. It is interesting to note that the first doctoral theses on indigenous winery yeasts and their selection conducted by GESAAF date back more than fifteen years. Why, then, have these topics only become widespread in recent years?
The explanation is that the gap between operational activities and research has always been significant, resulting in delays in understanding and knowledge of the processes. Credit for the change in direction—bringing companies closer to the frontier of the latest scientific discoveries and fostering a path toward new knowledge and academic culture—belongs to technology transfer and to the increasing number of graduates who, entering companies, have brought a more scientific and research-oriented approach, reducing the limits of non-knowledge.
Is there also a bit of trendiness involved? Yes, if it is understood as a growing attention to the origin and quality of local products and the processes used to obtain them. But trends should not be confused with the dissemination of mature scientific knowledge, greater producer awareness, and the transfer of information to consumers. Only in this way is it possible to truly appreciate the value of a territory contained within a 75 cl bottle of nectar with a thousand colors and a thousand stories.
Project Contacts
Faber is a project by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, Confindustria Firenze, and Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione. For more information, write to info@progettofaber.it or visit https://www.progettofaber.it/.
