EVALUATION OF FERMENTATION PERIOD AND STORAGE METHOD ON NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF KOCHO, A TRADITIONAL FERMENTED FOOD OF ENSET (Ensete ventricosum)

Abstract

Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is an indigenous African crop that currently feed approximately 25 million peoples in Ethiopia. It has long been domesticated in the southern highlands of the country, where smallholder farmers cultivate hundreds of landraces across varied climatic and agro-ecological Zones. The objective of this study was to evalute the effect of fermentation period and storage method (pot and plastic jar). Both fermentation time and storage method had significant effects (p<0.05) on the pH, Ash, fiber, fat and carbohydrate content of kocho .The carbohydrate content ranged from 67.96 % to 91.61%. The highest carbohydrate content (91.606 %) was recorded in the sample fermented for 90 day and stored in pot, while the lowest (67.96%) was recorded in the sample fermented for 30 days stored in a pit. Another low value (66.95%) was recorded in the sample fermented for 120 days in pit .The microbial counts, including lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast, increased during the first 30 days of fermentation but declined as the fermentation period extended beyond that. In conclusion, the combination of a 90 day fermentation period and pot storage method resulted in the highest carbohydrate content (91.61%), including that this combination is optimal for enhancing the nutritional quality of kocho.