Microbiological and physico-chemical changes during fermentation of kodo ko jaanr, a traditional alcoholic beverage of the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim

Kodo ko jaanr is a traditional fermented finger millet beverage, commonly consumed in the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim. In this paper, microbial and physico-chemical changes during fermentation of kodo ko jaanr were investigated. Population of filamentous moulds declined significantly (P<0.05) every d and finally disappeared after fifth d. Load of yeasts increased significantly (P<0.05) from 10⁵ cfu g-¹ to 10⁷ cfu g-¹ within second d. Lactic acid bacteria increased significantly (P<0.05) from 10⁶ cfu g-¹ to 10⁸ cfu g-¹ in first d and decreased significantly (P<0.05) to 10³ cfu g-¹ at the end. The pH decreased and acidity increased during fermentation. Alcohol content increased significantly (P<0.05) from 0.1% to 6.9% within sixth d. Reducing sugar content increased significantly (P<0.05) till third d and decreased, followed by decrease in total sugar content. Maximum activities of saccharification and liquefaction of millets were observed on second d of fermentation. It was revealed that Saccharomycopsis fibuligera and Rhizopus spp. play the major role in saccharification process of finger millet in kodo ko jaanr fermentation. A combination of mould and yeast strains, isolated from kodo ko jaanr during natural fermentation, were tested for production of the same product under lab-condition. Kodo ko jaanr prepared by a mixture of Rhizopus chinensis MJ:R3 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae MJ:YS2 had scored highest in general acceptability.