Khanom-jeen are traditional Thai fermented rice noodles with a characteristic flavour and texture. Based on their ability to hydrolyse rice proteins, five strains of proteolytic bacteria were isolated from fermented rice flour used to produce noodles in Thailand. Enterobacter ludwigii strain SK01 showed the highest degree of rice protein hydrolysis among the five strains and was selected as a starter culture for khanom-jeen production. The viable count of micro-organisms, acidity, pH, and protein and starch contents were compared throughout the fermented rice production with and without the SK01 strain. The pH of fermented rice increased on the first day of solid-state fermentation and subsequently decreased to 3·7-3·8 under both conditions. The protein content of rice significantly decreased from 80 to 18·2 ± 0·5 mg g-1 and 26 ± 0·6 mg g-1 during fermentation with and without the SK01 strain, respectively. The tensile strength, breaking length, brightness, and whiteness, which are important factors for the texture and appearance of khanom-jeen, were improved using the SK01 strain to ferment rice. The results of this laboratory-scale study indicated that the use of the proteolytic SK01 strain in fermented rice production can improve the quality of khanom-jeen noodles. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The use of Enterobacter ludwigii strain SK01 as a proteolytic bacterial starter culture improved the quality of khanom-jeen noodles. Compared with khanom-jeen noodles produced without E. ludwigii strain SK01, those produced using this strain showed increased tensile strength, breaking length, brightness and whiteness. These findings will be useful for the development of specific and controllable methods for producing khanom-jeen noodles with desirable texture and colour.
Keywords: fermented rice noodles; khanom-jeen; proteolytic bacteria; rice protein digestion; starter culture.
© 2019 The Society for Applied Microbiology.