Effects of Different Fermenting Agents on Proximate Composition and Sensory Evaluation of Masa - A Fermented Puff Fried Batter

Abstract

Fermentation improves the shelf life, texture, taste and aroma, nutritional value and digestibility and also lowers the content of antinutrients of fermented meals. This study investigated the effect of different fermenting agents on the quality of masa. The rice grains were sorted, cleaned, washed and soaked, wet milled and fermented separately with baker’s yeast, lactic acid culture (yogourmet) and tsamiyan gaye (citric acid) respectively. The final batter was fried and package for analysis. The different fermenting agent had significant (p<0.05) effect on all parameters measured. Masa fermented with lactic acid bacteria culture (LAB) had the highest value of 9.25% 0.83%, 1.01% and 18.51% for protein, crude fibre ash and fat content respectively while yeast fermented masa had higher respective value of 21.46% and 50.12% for moisture and carbohydrate content. The pH of masa sample is within the r range of 3.76-5.57 and titritable acidity of 0.05-0.17.  The sensory evaluation was carried out to assess the acceptability of the masa samples. However, all masa samples were generally accepted but baker’s yeast fermented masa had higher means scores for overall acceptability (7.40). Tsamiyan gaye (citric acid) and LAB culture can be used as an alternative to baker’s yeast for preparation of masa.