NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION ON FERMENTED PERAH SEED

Abstract

Fermentation of seeds to prolong food shelf life and preserve their nutritional values are crucial to provide health benefits. Yet the analysis on the content of fermented perah seeds was scarce to determine its usability and availability as alternative nutrient supplier. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the difference in nutritional value of perah seeds before and after the fermentation. Fermentation of perah seed was done by immersing the fresh seeds into salt water for two weeks while fresh seeds as non-fermented seeds. Results revealed that the fermented perah seed was light brown in colour and had pleasant smell. Proximate analysis demonstrated that fermented seed contained lower moisture content (0.85%), protein fibre (12.94%) and ash (2.89%) compared to non–fermented perah seed. Interestingly, the fat content increased after fermentation process for about 9% but other nutritional values decreased slightly. However, the decrease in protein content after the fermentation was very small which was less than 4%. It inferred that good preservation of protein content was shown in the fermented Perah seed. For mineral analysis, fermented perah seed demonstrated a reduction in heavy metal amount compared to non-fermented seed. Taken together, fermented perah seed was better in terms of protein preservation, shelf life and decrease of heavy metal content compared to non-fermented Perah seed to provide beneficial health effects.