CHANGES IN MICROFLORA AND BIOCHEMICAL-COMPOSITION DURING THE BACEMAN STAGE OF TRADITIONAL INDONESIAN KECAP (SOY-SAUCE) PRODUCTION

Indonesian soy sauce (kecap) is made from black soybeans in a traditio nal way which involves two microbiological stages: a solid-state ferme ntation and a brine fermentation. This study is concerned with the bri ne fermentation, called baceman. Samples from different kecap producer s were analyzed for (bio)chemical content and micro-organisms. It was found that the final composition of the baceman differed from manufact urer to manufacturer, and even within companies large differences were found in microflora and the amounts of fermentation products, formol nitrogen and salt concentration. The main fermentation products were l actate, acetate, glycerol and ethanol. Pediococcus halophilus, staphyl ococci, a coryneform bacterium and yeasts belonging to Candida, Debaro myces and Sterigmatomyces were isolated from the brines. Compared to J apanese soy sauce production, fermentation by yeasts does not play an important role in Indonesian kecap production. This is due to the fact that kecap is made from whole soybeans only, which are poor in sugars . After fermentation by P. halophilus no substrates are left for growt h and ethanol production by yeasts. The presence of film forming yeast s can even lead to spoilage of the product.