Lactobacillus plantarum strain imparting high thickness and/or high ropiness and/or high mouth thickness to a dairy product produced therewith and uses thereof

A method for manufacturing a fermented dairy product, wherein:

• the method comprises:
• a) inoculating a milk substrate with a Lactobacillus plantarum strain which is the strain DSM32493 deposited at the DSMZ on Apr. 26, 2017, or a variant of the DSM32493 strain deposited at the DSMZ on Apr. 26, 2017 with a genome sequence identity of at least 95% to the genome sequence of the DSM32493 strain, wherein the variant is produced by spontaneous mutation or genetic engineering of the DSM32493 strain, and
• b) fermenting the inoculated milk substrate to obtain a fermented dairy product;
• and
• the Lactobacillus plantarum strain is characterized as, when inoculated into milk, generating a fermented milk that exhibits the following rheological features, as assayed by test A:
• a) a shear stress measured at shear rate 11.6 s-1 higher than 30 Pa,
• b) a shear stress measured at shear rate 200 s-1 higher than 60 Pa, and
• c) a difference of the shear stress measured at 146 s 1 minus the shear stress measured at 41.1 s-1 higher than 12.