Amino Acids Profile of Coconut-based Traditional Fermented Food of Indonesia

Protein-containing fermented foods are source of important amino acids. We studied amino acids profile of three coconut-based traditional fermented food originated from Central Java, namely “kethek”, “bungkil”, and dage tempeh. Samples were collected from traditional markets in Purwokerto (dage tempeh), and Gombong (kethek and bungkil). Samples were dried and powdered upon analysis. Results showed that the total of amino acids were 244.551 g/kg (kethek), 514.15 g/kg (bungkil), and 15.10 g/kg (dage tempeh). Highest concentration of essential amino acids in the products were phenylalanine (17.66 g/kg in kethek), histidine (6.46 g/kg in bungkil), and isoleucine (12.18 g/kg in dage tempeh). Bungkil and dage tempeh showed methionine as the lowest concentration of essential amino acids, 0.462 g/kg (bungkil), 0.696 g/kg (dage tempeh). While tryptophan and methionine in kethek were also in low concentration, 3544.7 and 3.628 g/kg, respectively. Based on the highest concentration of essential amino acids, the products showed good candidate for source of compounds related to neurotransmitters.