Effect of Fermentation Method on Quality and Flavor Characteristics of Maize Flour

The quality of naturally fermented maize flour, unfermented maize flour and maize flour fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum (Lp) and/or Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sc) was analyzed by using unfermented maize flour as the control.The results showed that the contents of crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber and crude ash in fermented maize flour were significantly lower (P < 0.05) and the content of total starch was significantly higher (P < 0.05) when compared with unfermented maize flour.Fermentation increased the pasting temperature of maize flour significantly (P < 0.05), the breakdown and setback values of naturally fermented and Lp + Sc fermented maize flour were significantly lower than those of unfermented maize flour (P < 0.05), and the stability and anti-retrogradation ability of maize flour were improved.Moreover, fermentation with Lp and Lp + Sc had a pronounced effect on the structure of maize flour, while during fermentation with Sc and Lp + Sc, aroma compounds and metabolites which could improve the off-odor of fermented maize flour were produced.The fermentation periods of maize flour with Lp, Sc and their combination were 72, 18 and 48 hours, respectively compared to 13 days for natural fermentation.Maize flour fermented with Lp + Sc had better quality, flavor and processing properties.