In general, amylolytic and probiotic bacteria counts ranged around 7–8 log CFU·g−1 in fermented rice gruels, around 8–9 log CFU·g−1 in fermented soy milks and around 8–10 log CFU·g−1 in soy milk/rice gruels — with or without passion fruit fiber (data not shown).).
The drymatter content of RS and RSPF gruelswas reduced (P b 0.05) from 20 g and 21 g % to 19.0 ± 0.2 g and 20.0 ± 0.2 g %, respectively in the fermented products. No significant differences were observed between gruels fermented by different bacterial cultures (P N 0.05). The reduction of dry matter in fermented products can be ascribed to partial proteolysis of the matrix by the bacteria (Hou, Yu, & Chou, 2000).
Some members of our group described the odor and taste of the fermented RS and RSPF gruels as similar to yoghurt, but sweeter (personal report), which can be ascribed to the degradation of starch into monomers and dimers of carbohydrates by bacterial amylase