Mass balance of the processing and fermentation of the african locust bean (parkia filicoidea welw.)

Abstract

African locust beans (Parkia Filicoidea Welw. seeds) were processed and fermented to the traditional West African condiment, dawadawa. Dawadawa is a good source of protein, fat and lysine. The beans were processed by boiling and dehulling to ‘processed substrate’ which was fermented at 37°C in static fermenter units. The mass balance during processing and fermentation was studied. It was found that 1.0kg of raw beans (6.4% moisture by wt.) yielded 1.3kg of processed substrate (63% moisture by wt.) which in turn was converted to 1.2kg of dawadawa (65% moisture by wt.). The loss of bean solids during processing was due to the removal of adhering pulp and testa as well as to solids extraction during boiling and washing. The loss of solids during fermentation was presumably due to microbial utilization of a fraction of the substrate.