THE INFLUENCE OF PROCESS VARIABLES AND INOCULUM COMPOSITION ON THE SENSORY QUALITY OF KINEMA

Kinema, a traditional food condiment, is produced in homes in a crude manner. The natural fermentation of soybeans usually produces an accep table product. However, inconsistencies in the final product and spoil age do often occur. In order to standardize the production with qualit y consistency, the traditional process conditions were optimized by se nsory evaluation. Thinly perforated polythene bag as a wrapping materi al, 10-15 min cooking in 0.7 kg cm(-2) steam pressure and 48 h ferment ation at 37 degrees C were optimum for kinema making. The influence of micro-organisms, isolated from commercial kinema, was also studied. O rganoleptically, the monoculture fermentation of soybeans by Bacillus subtilis produced the best quality kinema. Any microbial combination w ith this bacterium had significantly adverse effect on fermentation an d consequent scoring. The monoculture fermentations by other micro-org anisms could not produce kinema, suggesting B. subtilis as the sole fe rmenting organism for this product. Consumers' preference trials showe d that the kinema produced under optimum conditions was more acceptabl e than even the best scored market samples.