Abstract:Mahewu is a traditional fermented grain beverage widely consumed in Zimbabwe.Its rich probiotics endow it with the function of promoting human health.Mahewu was prepared using sorghum malt starter from Zimbabwe，and 8 Gram positive and catalase negative lactic acid bacteria strains were isolated from Mahewu for species identification and probiotic function evaluation.The results showed that among the 8 strains of lactic acid bacteria isolated，H-1，H-3，H-7，H-11，H-14，and H-17 were identified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum，while H-4 and H-9 were identified as Leuconostoc mesenteroides or Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides.membranosus The evaluation of the in vitro probiotic potential of the above 8 strains of lactic acid bacteria showed that all isolates had a survival rate of 66.30%-99.62% in simulated gastric juice，good bile salt tolerance，hydrophobicity of 49.35%-79.00%，self-assembly of 51.00%-68.89%，DPPH free radical scavenging ability of over 63.00%，hydroxyl radical scavenging ability of over 16.00%，and Caco-2 cell adhesion rate of 0.068%-0.620%.In conclusion，all strains had good probiotic characteristics，including gastrointestinal environmental tolerance，potential intestinal colonization ability，and antioxidant function.This study further illustrated that lactic acid bacteria isolated from Mahewu have the potential to be used as probiotics as starters，auxiliary starters，or additional strains for functional fermented foods.