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Received: 20 November 2014
Received in revised form: 16 December 2014
Accepted: 18 December 2014
Keywords
Medombae
Mold and yeast
Solid state fermentation
Liquid state fermentation
Abstract
Medomdae is a Cambodian traditional dried starter culture used to produce alcoholic beverages and other fermented products. Its main ingredients are rice flour, different types of plants, herbs and spices and microorganisms from previous batches of medombae. This study aimed to describe the traditional method of medombae processing; enumerate microorganisms present in medombae; and evaluate the physicochemical and sensory properties of rice liquor using traditional medombae. Interview and documentation of local medombae and rice liquor production were conducted. Enumeration of microorganisms in traditional medombae was done using standard pour plating technique. Rice liquor from the three types of starter cultures were subjected to physicochemical and sensory analyses. Medombae samples contained 105 to 107 CFU g-1 molds; 107 to 108 CFU g-1 yeasts; and < 5 CFU g-1 acid-producing bacteria with starter culture from Vietnam obtained the highest counts. Rice liquor using traditional medombae had lower alcohol content, purified alcohol, yield and acceptability compared to rice liquor using Vietnamese starter cultures. This indicated that the method of Cambodian starter culture production still needs the right microorganisms and needs knowledge on the interactions and process by-products for optimum activity to produce desired product components.
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(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
Introduction
Medomdae or Mesra (rice cake starter culture or fermented rice cake) is a traditional starter culture used to produce alcoholic or fermented foods in Cambodia, such as srasor (Khmer traditional rice liquor), tapae (fermented waxy rice), srapeang (fermented rice wine), seang (fermented soybean), teukkhmes (vinegar). These traditional starter cultures have various names in different countries, e.g. loog-pang in Thailand, marcha or murcha in India, ragi in Indonesia, bubod in the Philippines, Chinese yeast in Taiwan, nuruk in Korea (Tsuyoshi et al., 2005), banh men in Vietnam, koji in Japan and ragi tapai in Malaysia (Limtong et al., 2005).
The process of medombae production had been learned by producers from their parents, relatives and non-relatives. Some local producers have stopped making the starter culture because medombae from Vietnam and China are cheaper and widely available in the market. Also, rice liquor producers have commented...