Microbial utilization of stachyose in soymilk yogurt production

Conventional dairy yogurt starter cultures Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus were studied for their ability to reduce stachyose in soymilk after 8 h fermentation at 44°C. The bacteria required acclimatization and propagation in soymilk prior to inoculation of fermentation medium. Plain soymilk fermented by inocula developed from the starter cultures stored in soymilk at –10°C for 24, 168 and 360 h had 14.8, 26.7 and 31.5% reduction in stachyose concentration respectively after 8 h fermentation at 44°C.