Abstract:To develop fermented celery juice products with potential antihypertensive activity，lactic acid bacteria with high angiotensin-converting enzyme from rabbit （ACE） inhibitory activity were screened by systematically evaluating the growth curves and environmental tolerance of lactic acid bacteria strains.The selected strain was further used to prepare fermented celery juice from different parts （stem，leaf，and stem+leaf），and the changes in physicochemical properties，nutritional indices，and functional characteristics of celery juice at different fermentation times were analyzed.The results showed that Lactiplantibacillus plantarum L171 was screened from 19 strains of lactic acid bacteria.This strain exhibited good survival rates under acidic conditions and high bile salt concentrations，and the ACE inhibition rate reached （76.64±4.77）%，which was significantly higher than that of the other strains （14.38%-66.83%），indicating good potential antihypertensive activity.The contents of total phenols and total flavonoids in fermented celery juice prepared with L.plantarum from different parts all increased，with a more significant increase observed in fermented stem celery juice at 48 h （P<0.05）.In addition，the ACE inhibition rate，DPPH radical scavenging rate，and ABTS+ radical scavenging rate of fermented celery leaf juice were significantly higher than those before fermentation.