Dairy alternatives face a demanding market: they must deliver taste, creaminess, functionality, and a solid nutritional and sustainability profile—while remaining affordable.
The cornerstone for creating high-quality dairy analogues is the dairy fermentation process. Fermentation can be used not only to develop the final product, but also to obtain or enhance ingredients that elevate the quality of the end formulation. This article presents practical cases to create dairy analogues through different fermentation approaches, as well as complementary technological routes ranging from local plant raw materials to fat structuring and dry fractionation.
Dairy fermentation processes
Choosing the right dairy fermentation process depends on the intended outcome: a ready-to-consume end product, intermediate ingredients that improve formulations, or advanced ingredients with highly specific functions. Below is a summary of what each route offers and when to use it.
Final Product: Traditional Fermentation
This process is applied directly to plant materials such as plant beverages or nut pastes, typically using starter cultures similar to those employed in fermented dairy products. These include lactic acid bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus) and certain fungi such as Penicillium camemberti and Penicillium roqueforti.
- Results: Yoghurt- and cheese-like analogues showing controlled acidity, stable gel structure, reduced syneresis, and sensory attributes clearly reminiscent of their dairy counterparts.
- What it solves: Reduction of vegetal off-flavours, development of characteristic dairy-like aromas, and improvement of texture and viscosity.
- When to use it: When the goal is a finished product with strong sensory acceptance, clean-label positioning, and straightforward regulatory compliance.
- Key parameters: Starter culture selection, fermentability of plant substrates, final pH, fermentation time/temperature, gel strength, syneresis, and shelf-life stability.
Intermediate Ingredients: Biomass Fermentation and Functionalization
Through controlled growth of fungi and yeasts, it is possible to generate protein-rich microbial biomass and modulate key techno-functional properties while significantly reducing plant-based off-flavours.
Functionalization acts as a strategic step bridging plant raw materials with dairy-like technological and sensory performance. This process yields higher-value intermediate ingredients that can be incorporated into plant-based yoghurts, beverages, or cheeses to improve stability, texture, and overall sensorial quality.
- Results: Mycoprotein (structural and protein contribution), Single cell oils (fat contribution and texturizing behaviour), Functionalized plant ingredients with improved sensory and technological performance
- What it solves: Enhances techno-functionality (emulsification, gelation, water-holding capacity), reduces off-flavours, and improves nutritional value without compromising labelling.
- When to use it: To generate mycoprotein or when plant matrices require functional improvement—sensory, technological or nutritional—or to stabilise beverages, yoghurts, or cheese analogues.
- Key parameters: Process yield, composition, rheological impact, and compatibility with downstream manufacturing.
Advanced Ingredients: Precision Fermentation
This route uses engineered microbial platforms designed to produce specific target molecules.
- Results: Tailor-made molecules replicating key dairy matrix functions (e.g., casein-like protein networks, specific lipids, enzymes, or aroma compounds).
- What it solves: Highly specialised structure, meltability, maturation, flavour, or stability requirements that cannot be achieved with standard raw materials.
- When to use it: Ideal for mid-term R&D pipelines requiring high-performance functionalities.
Regulatory note (EU): currently not authorised for market release; requires a regulatory roadmap and short-term alternatives (traditional + biomass fermentation).
Fermentation Using Local Plant Raw Materials: Project Fervelact
Achieving dairy-like aroma, creaminess, and nutritional value from plant bases is highly challenging. In AINIA, we address this through controlled fermentations using plant bases from tiger nut, almond, lupin, and flax, combined with cutting-edge technologies:
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Metabolomics: identification of key metabolites generated during fermentation
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Metagenomics: characterization of microorganisms producing these metabolites
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Food Computing: process steering toward the desired sensory profile
Key results:
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Tailored starter cultures designed for each plant raw material
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A new plant beverage (lupin + tiger nut) with nutritional properties comparable to semi-skimmed cow’s milk
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Fermented yoghurt and cheese analogues with stable gel, low syneresis, and nutritional profiles close to reference dairy products
Flavour Enhancement via Fermentation: Project Flavourferm
Reducing off-flavours and achieving a robust sensory profile—both in aroma and texture—is essential for consumer acceptance. To achieve this, we are optimizing different dairy fermentation processes (traditional, biomass, and precision fermentation), and validating results in real industrial environments using:
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Recombinant proteins (e.g., animal-free casein via precision fermentation) delivering dairy-like structural and sensory performance
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Biomass fermentation of fungi to produce ingredients with improved sensory and nutritional traits
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Traditional fermentation processes for dairy analogue applications
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Computational modelling to predict and steer the generation of dairy-like and umami volatile compounds
Emerging results:
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Significant improvements in flavour and texture, to be validated in consumer tests
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Functional ingredients ready for integration into beverages, cheese analogues, and even plant-based meat alternatives
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Clean-label, scalable formulation routes
This project is being developed by AINIA with the support of the European Union.
Protein and Functional Ingredient Development via Air Classification: Project AIRPROT
Developing sustainable, label-friendly alternative proteins with improved functionality requires new processing strategies. At AINIA, we addressed this challenge in the AIRPROT project through the following steps:
- Dry fractionation via air classification: Using local sources (e.g., carob, lupin), insects, and plant side streams. Thermal and enzymatic treatments were applied to modulate viscosity and texture of proteins, starches, and fibres—replicating dairy-like matrices such as milk, yoghurt, or cheese, while improving digestibility and reducing antinutrients.
- Functionalization strategies: Thermal, enzymatic, and fermentative processes to improve techno-functional and sensory properties.
Results:
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Functionalization enables modulation of nutritional, sensory, and technological properties depending on treatment type and process parameters
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Protein concentrates and starch/fibre fractions with improved functionalities such as emulsification and water-holding capacity
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Validation of these ingredients in multiple food matrices (smoothies and bakery products)
This project has been developed by AINIA through a regulatory funding agreement with the Generalitat Valenciana, with support for the technological institutes of the Comunitat Valenciana.
New Routes for Sustainable Fat Structures: Project BOILÀ
The shift toward healthier and more sustainable dairy alternatives requires replacing palm and coconut oils with fat structures capable of replicating dairy functionality, stability, and sensory performance—while improving nutritional value and reducing environmental impact. In AINIA, the BOILÀ project explored multiple complementary technological pathways:
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Advanced oleosome extraction from oil-rich seeds such as grape and pumpkin (cold pressing, ultrasound, and membrane separation)
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Protein-based oleogelation to structure liquid vegetable oils into solid-like matrices
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Production of Single Cell Oils through microbial fermentation
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Establishment of an olive cell line to explore new lipid biosynthetic routes
Results:
The project yielded oleosome-rich fractions with high technological potential, new structured and protein-emulsified fats with improved nutritional and labelling profiles, advances in microbial lipid production, and the development of an olive cell line—resulting in a portfolio of sustainable fats with strong applicability in dairy analogues and other plant-based products.
This project has been developed by AINIA thanks to the support of IVACE, the Generalitat Valenciana, and the European Union.
