Use of starter cultures of lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, bacilli and moulds in the fermentation of cassava dough for attieke (an ivoirian fermented food) preparation

Starter cultures of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides), Bacilli (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis), yeasts (Candida tropicalis) and moulds (Rhizopus oryzae), isolated from traditional cassava ferments used for the prepration of the three main attieke types (Adjoukrou, Alladjan and Ebrie) were tested singly or in combination in cassava fermentation for their contribution to acid production, protein enrichment, detoxification and softening. All tested species and traditional cassava ferments showed an ability to ferment cassava dough by generating significant changes of at least one of the tested parameters. But mixed starter cultures were more efficient than the single cultures developed and their corresponding cassava traditional inocula. The three mixed starter cultures set displayed good acidification (until 7 times more), improved protein content of cassava dough and better softening and rapid and intense elimination of cyanogenic glucosides (more than 50% in only 6 h). Thus, it appears that the controlled mixed starter cultures were showed to have the most interesting technology profiles for any application at small or large scale.