Impact of selected starters and cassava varieties on the proximate, rheological, and volatile profiles of lafun

Fawole, A. O., Karatzas, K.-A. G., Parker, J. K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4121-5481 and Fagan, C. C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2101-8694 (2025) Impact of selected starters and cassava varieties on the proximate, rheological, and volatile profiles of lafun. Foods, 14 (4). 660. ISSN 2304-8158 doi: 10.3390/foods14040660

Abstract/Summary

Spontaneous fermentation is currently used to produce lafun from cassava, leading to inconsistent product quality and decreased safety. Using starter cultures and optimising the selection of the raw materials can overcome this. This study evaluated the impact of various lactic acid bacteria (LAB) starters and varieties of cassava (bitter: IBA30527; vitamin A fortified bitter: IBA011371; and sweet: TMEB117) on the proximate, rheological, and volatile profiles of lafun. The varieties were fermented with four selected LAB (two strains of Weissella koreensis, Lactococcus lactis, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides). The use of fortified cassava showed higher potential to improve the quality of lafun. The combination of fortified cassava and Leuconostoc mesenteroides gave the highest nutritional value (ash: 4.37% cf. 1.33%; protein: 3.08% cf. 0.87%; and fibre: 7.43% cf. 1.43%). Fermenting the fortified cassava with Weissella koreensis-2 produced lafun gruel with the best viscoelastic properties, indicating an overall better product quality. The fortified cassava fermented with combined cultures of W. koreensis-1 and L. lactis resulted in a product with lower levels of carboxylic acids (cheesy) and lipid oxidation products (fried, rancid) but higher concentrations of carotenoid-derived compounds (fruity). The use of LAB in the controlled fermentation of fortified cassava could be a sustainable alternative to improve the physical, nutritional, and flavour properties of lafun.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/120945
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/foods14040660
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences > Food Microbial Sciences Research Group Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences > Food Research Group
Publisher	MDPI
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