Lactic fermentation of cooked navy beans by Lactobacillus paracasei CBA L74 aimed at a potential production of functional legume-based foods

The feasibility of developing a dry legume-based functional product using a fermentation process carried out on a 10% w/v navy bean suspension, in a lab-scale stirred batch reactor was studied. After soaking and cooking dried navy beans, the fermentation tests performed on the resulting medium using Lactobacillus paracasei CBA L74 showed a maximum bacterial count of 109 CFU/mL after 20 hr and a maximum lactic acid concentration of 1.9 g/L after 16 hr of process time. A freeze-drying process was conducted on the fermented bean suspension, showing a two-log microbial reduction and a bacterial viability in the resulting probiotic powder of 3.7 × 108 CFU/g.