ENHANCING NUTRITIONAL PROFILE OF SOYBEAN FERMENTED PRODUCT TEMPEH BY INCORPORATING BARLEY

Fermented foods are gaining importance among a large group of populations worldwide. Tempeh is a fermented soy-based product. Boiled soybeans are subjected to aerobic fermentation to obtain tempeh. It can be used as an alternative source of proteins for vegetarians, owing to high amounts of protein, as well as valuable prebiotics. The objective of the current study was the development of fermented soybean product combined with barley and determined nutritional profile as well as the storage condition of the product. The proximate composition of soybean indicated that it contained 10.6±0.58%, 35.00±0.58%, 3.8±1.15%, 7.2±0.58% and 10±0.58% of moisture, crude protein, crude fat, ash and crude fiber, respectively. The proximate composition of barley showed 9.6±0.58%, 2.52±0.58%, 2.64±0.58%, 13.8±1.45% and 1.4±0.58% of moisture, crude fat, crude fiber, crude protein and ash, respectively. Fermentation of soybeans with barley with different ratio (10%, 20% & 30%) was carried out to develop the product (tempeh) by using the Rhizopus oligosporus. Some proximate analysis and sensory evaluation were done at an interval of 7 days for 14 days. Results showed that the crude dietary fiber increased as the concentration of incorporated barley enhanced. Product T3 has a higher content of fibers that are beneficial for probiotics in the gut. There was a decline in protein concentration due to the replacement of soybeans with barley. The antioxidant activity of soybeans was much better than incorporated products. Sensory evaluation showed that the texture was good for all incorporated product, but the color was not much appealing as the standard product. In the context of nutritional value T3 was best having the higher value of dietary fiber which serve as prebiotics.