Impact of storage on probiotic viability, nutritional and sensory quality of fermented soymilk produced from different soybean varieties

In recent years, there has been an increase in consumer demand for beverages made from fermented soybeans. Unfortunately, the nutritional imbalance and flavour profiles of plant-based milk substitutes frequently prevent people from consuming them. Fermentation can aid plant-based milk substitutes’ taste profiles, nutritional characteristics, texture and microbiological safety in order to produce more valued and delicious products without adding additional, frequently viewed as fake, ingredients.

The implications of probiotic fermentation to improve the nutritive and sensory quality of fermented soymilk are assessed. Three soybean varieties as food grade soybean (Krune), low KTI soybean (V-23) and black soybean (VL-Bhatt 65) are used for the formation of soymilk which further fermented by three probiotic strains as Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Weissella confusa. The fermented soymilk samples were stored for 28^th days at 4°C to analyse the changes in chemical composition and sensory quality.

High protein content was found in BA (6.85±0.13 g/100g), while the consumer preferred the LR with best overall ranking (6.25±0.05) in hedonic scale. The viability count of probiotic was highest (9.44±0.17 log cfu/ml) in BA after storage. The study suggested that soymilk with enormous number of biomolecules or pigments showed better viability of probiotic after storage and L. rhamnosus fermented soymilk preferred by the consumer over others probiotic fermented soymilk.