Acceleration of the fermentation of kenkey, an indigenous fermented maize food of Ghana

Abstract

Kenkey is a popular staple food of Ghana. It consists of fermented and cooked maize dough, wrapped in leaves. The traditional kenkey-making process is laborious and time consuming (4–6 days). An accelerated option for industrial manufacture of kenkey in sausage casings was developed, which takes approximately 24 h. Hydration of maize to 40% ( w w ) moisture content was shortened from 48 to 10 h by pre-cracking the kernels. Fermentation was shortened from 3–4 days to 12 h by incorporating the aflata into the dumpling prior to fermentation, and by using a starter dough. Cooking time and thus energy expenditure was reduced from 2 h to 35 min by changing the dimensions of the kenkey mass from 10–15 cm diameter balls to 6 cm diameter cylinders. Due to the different conditions, yeasts were somewhat more active than in traditional kenkey, resulting in higher ethanol levels. However, these remained low and ethanol had disappeared after cooking. The combination of lactic acid fermentation and cooking resulted in a microbiologically stable product, even after the dumpling had been deliberately contaminated.