Development, acceptability and nutritional evaluation of an indigenous food blend fermented with probiotic organisms

Abstract

PurposeProbiotic fermented foods are fast being recognized as health foods. Most of such developed foods are based on dairy products and much less work is available on cereals/legumes which constitute the staple diet in developing nations. In the present study an attempt has been made to develop a barley‐based probiotic fermented food mixture and report its acceptability and nutritional profile.Design/methodology/approachIndigenously developed BCGT food mixture containing barley flour, milk coprecipitate, sprouted green gram paste and tomato pulp (2:1:1:1, w/w) was autoclaved (1.5kg/cm2, 15min., 121○C), cooled and fermented with 2 per cent liquid culture (containing 106 cells/ml broth). Two types of fermentations were carried out i.e. single culture fermentation [ L. casei, L. plantarum (37○C, 24hr.)] and sequential culture fermentation [S. boulardii (25○C, 24hr.)+L. casei (37○C, 24hr.); S. boulardii (25○C, 24hr.)+L. plantarum (37○C, 24hr.)]. The lyophilized and rehydrated food mixtures were subjected to organoleptic and nutritional evaluation. The data were statistically analysed for analysis of variance in a completely randomized design according to standard methods.FindingsAll the fermented and lyophilized food mixtures were found to be organoleptically acceptable to human palate and maintained adequate cell viability. The pH of the fermented products varied from 4.13 to 4.55. They had good nutrient profile with crude protein content ranging from 20.87 to 21.81 per cent.Practical implicationsSince the developed product had good acceptability after one month storage at room temperature, it can be considered for commercialization after establishing its health/therapeutic implications.Originality/valueTill date dairy foods have preferentially been used as the carrier medium for probiotics. This paper explores the possibility of using staple foods as the carrier medium. The consumption of such food mixtures may be useful in controlling pathogens/antibiotics induced diarrhoea as well as in hypercholesterolemia. To authenticate such claims, the results of trials carried out on mice in our lab shall be reported in future communications.