Evaluation of fermentation parameters during fermentation process of Baccaurea lanceolata Muell (Liposu) / Mackley George

Baccaurea lanceolata or locally known as Liposu can be found in forested area near the riverbanks which is edible and has a very sour taste. This fruit is usually consumed by many people in Sabah and Sarawak without knowing its nutritive values. Although there are reports on its traditional medicine usage but there are no reported scientific research. The fermentation of Baccaurea lanceolata is done traditionally based on assumptions to see whether this fruit is able to be fermented and used in pickles production. In this study, the fermentation is done for 67 days but only 57 days showed the significant observation of fermentation results. During the process, the temperature was manipulated in order to identify the most suitable temperature for Baccaurea lanceolata (Liposu) fruit fermentation. The ranges of manipulated temperatures are from 25 °C to 30 °C for Group 1, 30 °C to 35 °C for Group 2 and 40 °C to 45 °C for Group 3. These temperature ranges were selected considering the growth of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) which produced lactic acid. The pH, colony count and lactic acid production are selected as fermentation parameters as they are variable characteristics that indicate the preferred fermentation temperature. Group 1 showed the significance observation where the productions of lactic acid keep increasing since Day 4 until Day 36. The lactic acid produced recorded was more compared to Group 2 and Group 3. In addition, the colony count deals with the microorganism activities especially on the peaks in Group 1 which is referring to Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB); 1st peak of LAB was on Day 15 showed 619 colony counts with 1.66% of lactic acid production and 2n d peak of LAB was on Day 36 showed 907 colony counts with 1.81% of lactie acid production higher than LAB colony counts and lactic acid productions in Group 2 and Group 3. The significance of the finding will help to improve the fruit fermentation procedure based on the scientific evaluation. Therefore, the best temperature range that can be used for Baccaurea lanceolata (Liposu) fermentation is from 25 °C to 30 °C due to the large production of lactic acid, stable pH and also colony count that indicated the presence and activity of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) to produce lactic acids. It is recommended that future research should be done to isolate and identify the suspected cultured LAB.