Chemical changes and nutritive values of burukutu (a Nigerian beverage)

During fermentation of cereal products for preparing burukutu, the crude protein increased from 3.2 g/100 ml to 7.8 g/100 ml while there was gradual decrease in the sugar and ascorbic acid content from 40.7 g/100 ml and 83 mg/100 ml to 3.9 g/100 ml and 2.4 mg/100 ml respectively. The predominant sugars are fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose. Burukutu contains almost all essential amino acids in required proportions except cystine and tryptophan which have been completely destroyed by heat during boiling. The temperature and pH increased for the first two days during fermentation, but while the pH continued to increase, the temperature gradually decreased to 30 degrees C at the end of the third day. The t-test carried out to compare the amino acids of sorghum/gari pulp and burukutu indicates that there are significant differences between the amino acids. This work reports on chemical changes and nutritive values of burukutu.