foods Article Physical, Chemical, and Microbiological Characteristics of Pulque: Management of a Fermented Beverage in Michoacán, Mexico Gonzalo D. Álvarez-Ríos 1, Carmen Julia Figueredo-Urbina 2 and Alejandro Casas 1,* 1 Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, 58190 Michoacán, Mexico;
[email protected] 2 Cátedras CONACYT-Laboratorio de Genética, Área Académica de Biología Instituto de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Mineral de la Reforma, 78557 Hidalgo, Mexico; fi
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 24 February 2020; Accepted: 11 March 2020; Published: 20 March 2020 Abstract: Pulque is a beverage that has been prepared in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times from the fermented sap of more than 30 species of wild and domesticated agaves. We conducted studies in two communities of the state of Michoacán, in central-western Mexico, where we documented its traditional preparation and analyzed the relationship between preparation conditions and the composition and dynamics of microbiological communities, as well as the physical and chemical characteristics of the beverage. In one of the communities, Santiago Undameo (SU), people boil the sap before inoculating it with pulque inoculum; this action causes this local pulque to be sweeter, less acidic, and poorer in bacteria and yeast diversity than in the other community, Tarimbaro (T), where the agave sap is not boiled and where the pulque has more diversity of microorganisms than in SU. Fermentation management, particularly boiling of the agave sap, influences the dynamics and diversity of microbial communities in the beverage. Keywords: agave sap; probiotics; traditional knowledge; biocultural diversity 1.