Determination of total dietary fiber content and antioxidative properties of tarhana

Tarhana is one of the most important traditional fermented cereal foods in Turkey. It is produced both commercially and domestically. Tarhana is made from cereal flours, yoghurt, different vegetables, salt, herbs, and spices. In this research, the chemical properties, color values (Hunter L*, a*, b*), sensory scores, mineral contents, total phenolic material contents (TPMC), radical scavenging powers (RSP), and total dietary fiber (TDF) contents of 20 well-known tarhana samples, 5 of which commerciall tarhana soups and 15 of which collected from different locations in Turkey, were examined and statistically evaluated. Commercial and traditional tarhana samples were also compared in terms of above mentioned properties.Moisture, ash, salt, protein, crude fat, pH and acidity degree values of the samples changed between 6.1-12.7%, 1.63-17.10%, 1.51-16.55%, 10.53-18.22%, 0.45-4.97%, 3.62-4.75 and 10.2-28.4, respectively. The L*, a*, and b* values of the tarhana samples were between 60.6?85.6, 0.0?19.2, 7.3?30.4, respectively. All of the chemical properties and L* and b* values of tarhana samples were found to be significantly affected (p<0.01) by the origins of the tarhanas. The TPMC, RSP, and TDF contents of tarhana samples were determined between 572.47 and 1851.83 µg GAE/g tarhana, 222.52-1659.52 µg TEAC/g tarhana, and 3.56 and 16.19%, respectively. TPMC, RSP, TDF and most of the mineral contents of tarhana samples were also found to be significantly affected (p<0.01) by the origins of the tarhanas. Color, taste, odor, mouthfeel, consistency and overall acceptibility values of tarhana samples were determined between 1.9?4.6, 2.3?4.6, 2.6?4.0, 2.0?4.6, 1.9?4.4 and 2.7?4.4, respectively. Most of the sensory properties of tarhana samples were evaluated as acceptable. Since tarhana samples were generally found to be rich in proteins as well as TDF, TPMC and RSP, tarhana may be considered as a functional food and should be given much more attention that they deserve.