EFFECT OF ETHANOL ON THE HYDROLYSIS OF PROTEIN AND LIPID DURING THE AGING OF A CHINESE FERMENTED SOYA BEAN CURD - SUFU

Some biochemical changes in the traditional Chinese fermented soya bean curd, Sufu, were investigated. The Sufu was prepared by using either Actinomucor taiwanensis or Actinomucor elegans as the starter and the ageing was in brine solution, with and without the addition of ethanol. A higher dissolution ratio of protein and a higher content of peptide-form amino acid were observed in the Sufu aged in the brine solution without ethanol. High contents of glutamic acid and leucine were notably present among the free amino acids. Regardless of starter organism used, the addition of ethanol to the brine solution for ageing resulted in the free fatty acid in the Sufu product. However, addition of alcohol to the ageing solution did not influence the fatty acid composition of any Sufu prepared. Among the fatty acids, the content of linoleic acid was the highest in all the Sufu prepared.