Changes in Quality Characteristics of Meju Made with Germinated Soybean during Fermentation

This research was conducted to investigate the changes in quality characteristics of meju made with 24-hour germinated soybeans according to fermentation time. The study confirmed that the amino nitrogen content immediately after soaking was 15.5 mg%, and the content rapidly increased in the beginning of the germination process and continued to increase to 312.9 mg% by 48 hours of fermentation. The number of fungi in the whole soybean meju made with 24-hour germinated soybeans was higher than the numbers of bacteria and yeast since the Aspergillus oryzae was inoculated artificially. The content of organic acids, in which the amount of citric acid was highest followed by tartaric acid and malic acid, increased with the fermentation process. The level of free amino acids in the whole soybean meju made from the 24-hour germinated soybeans increased rapidly with fermentation. The free amino acid content after 48 hours of fermentation (2,513.5 mg%) was 5.7 times higher than the content of the soaked germinated soybeans. The content of glutamic acid was highest followed by aspartic acid, lysine, leucine, and proline. The ratio of glutamic acid to the total free amino acids at 48 hours fermentation was 21.2% for the whole soybean meju. It was confirmed that the total isoflavone content, in which the content of genistein was highest followed by daidzein and glycitein, increased at the beginning of the fermentation process, but did not change thereafter.