Proximate, Microbial and Sensory Characteristics of Cowpea Milk Fermented with Probiotic Starter Cultures

Abstract

Fermentation of cowpea milk was carried out using three mixed starter cultures containing (i) Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium spp, and Streptococcus thermophilus (ABT) (ii) Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus (DT) or (iii) Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Streptococcus thermophilus (GT). Proximate composition of raw and fermented cowpea milk was determined using the AOAC methods. Lactic acid bacteria survival and sensory attributes of the fermented cowpea milk was also determined. Crude fat decreased significantly (P<0.05) after fermentation except for GT culture which led to 33.2% increase. Crude fiber was not detected in all the samples. Fermentation with GT also led to increase in protein content, although this was not significant. A decrease was observed for carbohydrate content, after fermentation, with DT culture leading to the highest decrease of 7.1%. There was a general increase in microbial growth during the first two weeks of storage (refrigeration at 4˚C). Thereafter the number reduced to Log10 4.11 cfu/ml on the 28th day of storage. No significant differences were observed for sensory attributes of taste, texture and overall acceptability. However, aroma and appearance had significant differences among the samples (P<0.05). The study demonstrated that nutritional quality of cowpea milk can be achieved through fermentation. Also, cowpea milk fermented with lactic acid bacteria produce a yoghurt-like product that can be sweetened to taste and be acceptable to consumers. The study therefore recommends that more work should be done to improve the sensory acceptability of the products and that their potential health benefits should be determined through in vivo studies.

Use of Selected Lactic Acid Bacteria for the Fermentation of Legume-Based Water Extracts

“…Even though the preparation of legume-based water extracts can be carried out following different protocols, we can conclude that lactic acid bacteria are able to ferment legume extracts and survive in these beverages during cold storage, as also demonstrated for the strains Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Streptococcus thermophilus found in cowpea beverages after 28 days [ 44 ].…”

Effect of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus Yoba Fermentation on Physicochemical Properties, Amino Acids, and Antioxidant Activity of Cowpea-Peanut Milk

“…Consequently, during fermentation, some of the lipids might have been utilised by the starter culture to yield energy [10]. Also, Aduol et al [27] reported a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the low crude fat content (0.3-0.5%) in fermented cowpeas milk Yoba Fiti GR-1 culture. e fat content observed in the fermented cowpea-peanut milk is beneficial to human health since it is within the recommended dietary intake level range for fat by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture Report of 2015.…”

Legumes and Legume-Based Beverages Fermented with Lactic Acid Bacteria as a Potential Carrier of Probiotics and Prebiotics

“…Plant matrices are a good carrier for probiotic bacteria. Products made by plant fermentation with probiotics can meet consumers' demands for health-promoting, dairy-free products [129,[197][198][199][200]. Most of the plant-based beverages described in the literature are fermented using Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, and Bifidobacterium [24,129,194,201].…”

“…The cowpea-based beverage turned out to be a good fermentation matrix using probiotic cultures containing bacteria from the genera Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Streptococcus [198]. The obtained fermented beverage showed faster microbial growth during the first two weeks of storage.…”