Effect of fermntation on quality properties of cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) tarhana produced from cereal/pseudocereal flours

Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) tarhana, which is a traditional product in Bolu and its province, is prepared by mixing cornelian cherry pulp, bread wheat flour and salt followed by drying in sunless environment. There is not any fermentation process during traditional production. Effect of fermentation process on the quality properties of cornelian cherry tarhana samples produced with different cereal/pseudo-cereal flours is determined in this study. For this purpose, replacing wheat flour to buckwheat flour as a pseudo-cereal, durum clear flour as a by-product of durum wheat semolina industry and whole grain hull-less barley flour were used in the production. Cornelian cherry tarhana produced with bread wheat flour was used as control. Some chemical, nutritional, functional and sensory properties of the cornelian cherry tarhanas and the control sample were determined in fermented and non-fermented forms. Ash, protein, crude oil and dietary fiber contents and water solubility of the samples increased with using clear flour and whole grain hull-less barley flour in the production. Total sugar contents of non-fermented samples changed between 10.4-16.4% while total sugar content of fermented ones changed between 8.2-11.7%. The results indicated that fermented cornelian cherry tarhana samples significantly had higher dietary fibre, free phenolic compounds and DPPH radical scavenging activity while the samples had lower total phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid and anthocyanin contents (p<0.05). Fermentation process did not change the β-glukan content (2.77%) of cornelian cherry tarhana produced with whole grain hull-less barley flour. Fermentation process affected a* colour values in negative way in all samples (p<0.05), on the other hand L* and b* colour values increased with fermentation process. Besides, the overall sensory analysis results showed that fermented cornelian cherry tarhana with buckwheat flour had the highest point in terms of overall acceptability.