Desenvolvimento de um inóculo seguro, eficiente e padronizado para a produção de tempeh em pequena escala a partir de diferentes leguminosas

Mestrado em Engenharia Alimentar - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaFermented foods from Eastern countries, based on crop fermentations are among the most desired by consumers for their nutrition value and potential as Functional foods and for their diversity and originality. Yet, these products are usually produced by spontaneous and poorly characterized fermentations under non-controlled conditions, which are not compatible with the high quality standards demanded by Western consumers. Tempeh is a popular Indonesian fermented food, originally based on soybean fermented by Rhizopus oligosporus. The objective of this work was to produce safer and effective Rhizopus oligosporus inocula and design standard procedures for safe and consistent tempeh production and conservation. Additionally new tempeh-like fermented products were also produced. Rhizopus oligosporus growth and inoculum preparation and inoculum concentration added to the crop, were optimized to obtain standard tempeh with the desired organoleptic properties. Adjustments on the production steps described for the traditional tempeh manufacture (soaking and fermentation parameters) were also made. Using the optimized procedures, a standard method for inocula and tempeh production was developed. Tempeh maintained its organoleptic properties when stored under vacuum in thermo sealed polypropylene bags and frozen until consumption. The production of several varieties of tempeh using different crops was accomplished under these conditions