CHEMICAL, NUTRITIONAL AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF GREEN BEANS FERMENTEDWITH AND WITHOUT STARTER CULTURE

Two varieties of green bean locally known as Binz and Mangtout were fe rmented with and without starter culture. During fermentation pH chang es, total reducing sugars, total acids, thiamine, riboflavin and prote in contents were determined. After the pH of the beans had fallen to b elow 4.0 the beans were pasteurized and sensory evaluation was carried out to assess the taste, texture, aroma and overall acceptability usi ng a 5 point hedonic scale. The pH of the beans fermented with starter culture fell to below 4.0 after 4 days whereas the samples fermented without starter culture took 8 days. In both cases a sharp decrease in sugars and increase in acids were observed within the first two days of fermentation but samples fermented without starter produced signifi cantly less acids. Although there was a significant decrease (p < 0.05 ) of the vitamins and protein with fermentation period, there were no significant differences between samples fermented with and without sta rter culture. Overall both varieties produced acceptable fermented pro ducts but samples fermented without starter culture were more acceptab le than those fermented with starter culture.