Fermentation is traditionally used worldwide to make plant-based foods nutritionally accessible, more wholesome, tastier and more durable.



In the SusBev project, this technology is to be applied to previously unused agricultural side streams (e.g. leaves from vines and other crops, pomace and pulp from fruit and vegetable processing) in order to sustainably produce new, healthy foods.



The various steps of fermentative application development - harvesting and preparing the plant material, selecting and testing the microorganisms and adapting the fermentation conditions to the respective substrate - are carried out in the project by an interdisciplinary consortium of partners. Work is initially being carried out on the use of leaves of fungus-resistant grape varieties (Piwis) for the production of low-alcohol, wine-like beverages. The result should be optimized microbial starter cultures, methods and processes that can be transferred to the winery, as well as product prototypes.