Microorganisms and Technology of Philippine Fermented Foods

INTRODUCTION Fermented foods are essential components of diets in many parts of the world especially in the Asia. It is a highly acceptable form of food preservation for millions of consumers due to its nutritive value and wholesome flavor. The methods of processing traditional fermented foods were developed in households and improvements were done as the process is handled down from one generation to another. Mostly of these processes were developed on a trial and error basis, hence quality varied from one maker to the other. In the Philippines, there are quite a number of traditional fermented foods such as rice wine (tapuy) , sweetened rice (binubudan) , fermented rice cake (puto) , fermented cooked rice and shrimp (balao-balao) , fermented cooked rice and fish (burong isda) , sugarcane wine (basi) , coconut wine (tuba) , distilled coconut wine (lambanog) , palm sap vinegar (suka) , fermented fish paste (bagoong) , fermented fish sauce (patis) , fermented small shrimp (alamang) ,Visayan fermented fish (tinabal) , green papaya pickles (achara) , fermented mustard leaves (burong mustasa) , green mango pickles (burong mangga) , white soft cheese (kesong puti) , and nata, a pellicle produced by Acetobacter xylinum on coconut medium (water or milk) fruit juices and other sugar-rich raw materials. Technological advances that were made elucidated the role of microorganism on the physical and chemical changes that occurred in the processed raw materials. Microbial interactions during fermentation were affected by the existing environmental conditions and were found to influence the production and the wholesomeness of the products. Selected strains were employed in the process of improvement and standardization into the stable and high quality products and processes that are routinely used.