Effect of probiotic fermentation on carbohydrate and mineral profile of an indigenously developed food blend

Abstract

An indigenous food mixture was developed by mixing rice flour, whey, sprouted green gram paste and tomato pulp (2:1:1:1, w/w) and was coded as RWGT. The mixture was autoclaved (1.5 kg cm-2, 15 min, 121 °C), cooled and inoculated with 2% liquid culture (containing 106cells ml-1broth). Two types of fermentations were carried out, single culture fermentation [L. casei, L. plantarum (37 °C, 24 h)] and sequential culture fermentation [S. boulardii (25 °C, 24 h)] + L. casei (37 °C, 24 h); S. boulardii (25 °C, 24 h) + L. plantarum (37 °C, 24 h)]. Single culture fermentations caused significant (P<0.05) reduction in the total soluble sugars (51-54%), non-reducing sugars (73-78%) and starch content (41-43%). Sequential culture fermentations decreased the total available carbohydrates by 62-64%. All the fermentations significantly (P<0.05) improved the HCl-extractability of minerals viz. iron (54-67%), calcium (22-32%), sodium (25-30%) and potassium (17-24%).