A nutritional, chemical and sensory evaluation of lupin (L. angustifolius) tempe

Abstract

SummaryTempe, a traditional Indonesian food, is usually made by the fermentation of soybeans. the substitution of soybeans with lupin seed kernels at levels of 50, 75 and 100% was investigated. Organoleptic evaluation using Australian (n = 17–22) and Indonesian panellists (n = 5–8) showed no significant difference (P > 0.05) for taste, texture and overall acceptability between the samples. the process of soaking, boiling and fermenting the soybeans reduced the content of phytate (17%), protease inhibitors (98%) and oligosaccharides (77%). For lupin seed kernels the reductions were 60%, negligible and 86%, respectively, and for alkaloids 71%. the protease inhibitor content of lupin tempe was only one‐fifth that of soy tempe.Negligible changes in the protein quality of soybeans and lupins were observed. the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) was 2.30 for the boiled soybeans and 2.19 for soybean tempe. Cooked (boiled) lupins had a lower protein quality (PER = 0.84) which was not significantly altered by processing into tempe (PER = 0.91). the apparent digestibility of the cooked lupin (88.1%) and lupin tempe (88.4%) were similar to that of cooked soy (87.3%) and soy tempe (88.5%).These results suggest good prospects for substituting lupin seed for soybeans in tempe production in cases where protein is not limiting and where the lower levels of antinutrients would be of nutritional benefit.