Fermented Foods of the Cold Desert Regions of Western Himalayas and their Potential Health Benefits

Abstract

Cold desert regions of Indian Himalayas covering Lahaul and Spiti, Ladakh, parts of Kinnaur and Uttarakhand have unique geographical and climatic conditions ranging from sub-tropical heat to sub-freezing temperature, as low as -40°C. The ethnic communities in these regions have unique dietary habits, and depend heavily on fermented foods. The fermented foods are prepared from wide range of substrates such as fruit and vegetable, cereal, legume, dairy, and meat-based in addition to alcoholic beverages. Fermentation is achieved through the use of indigenous, traditional starter cultures locally called as Phabs or Malera. Phabs are barley-based while Malera are wheat-based inoculums consisting cereals as carbohydrate substrate, mixture of herbs, spices and prepared using special indigenous process with locally available resources. Fermentation is achieved predominantly through lactic acid bacteria and yeast. Apart from staple cereals and legumes, dairy and meat products constitute major component of the diets of the ethnic communities. Some unique dishes of cold desert regions are hard cheese Churpe derived from Yak milk or indigenous cattle breeds, alcoholic beverages like Lugri, Chhang, Angoori, Khambir roti a cereal sourdough based thick flattened bread, steamed dumplings Siddu and deep fried Marchu. Majority of the fermented foods from cold desert regions have been reported to possess known probiotic strains such as Lactobacillus spp., Streptococcus spp., Lactiplantibacillus spp., Lactococcus spp., and emerging probiotics such as Leuconostoc mesentroides, Acetobacter spp., Kluveyromyces spp. These fermented foods consist bioactive molecules such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Several of these fermented foods have been reported to possess array of bioactive properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcerative, anti-microbial, immunomodulatory and known to positively influence gut microflora. Characterization of the fermented foods from cold desert regions could provide novel probiotic species, hitherto unreported and offer new insights on the nutritional and therapeutic applications of ethnic fermented cuisines of Indian Himalayan Region.