Abstract
Ground nut and soybean respectively autoclaved at 110°C for 30 minutes were fermented with Koji (rice) at 28°C for 5 days and their total and free amino acids were determined by microbiological assay technique regarding those defatted specimen before and after fermentation. Ground nut product included 31% of 8 essential amino acids in the sum of the total 18 kinds and that of soybean included 36% essentials. Ground nut product showed inferiority in total lysine and methionine levels when compared with soybean products. Total arginine level was found to decrease through the fermentation in both the materials (Table 1).
Free amino acid pattern (Table 2) of the fermented products revealed a charactor of high potency of proline and glutamic acid. The sum of the values of 18 kinds of free amino acid assayed were 7.9g/16g nitrogen in ground nut and 1.2g/16g nitrogen, in soybean before fermentation, but these values increased to 21g/16g nitrogen and 16g/16g nitrogen, respectively, after fermentation. Free cystine and serine values showed no increase after fermentation through both the materials, the evidence observed in the former acid coincided with the observations on soybean “MISO” fermentation reported previously.
