[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [compost_tea] malt vs molassaas
On Monday, February 3, 2003, at 06:48 AM, soilfoodweb@aol.com wrote:
These different food resources are relative in their ability to grow fungi.
Compare white sugar to brown sugar to molasses to malt to soy sauce. Increasing ability to grow fungi as you go along that gradient, because of the structural ciomplexity of the sugars and proteins in these materials.
Molasses has some fungal foods, but malt has more fungal food, but less fungal food than soy sauce.
Hope this helps -
White sugar is pure sucrose, a disaccharide made up of glucose and fructose. Brown sugar is sucrose and molasses added back in. While molasses, or evaporated cane juice, is 40 - 60% sucrose & other sugars with other substances not yet removed. It is the content of these other substances that must be attractive to fungi. http://www.rhhall.ie/bulletins/molasses_4.htm
Organic matter composition of beet and cane molasses
Beet molasses Cane Molasses
Sucrose 66 44
Fructose 1 13
Glucose 1 10
Betaine 6 -
Amino acids 8 3
Other substances 18 30
Source: Steg and Van der Meer, 1985
Non-sugar Organic Matter
The non-sugar organic matter of molasses accounts for many of its physical properties, in particular viscosity. It consists mainly of carbohydrates, such as starch, nitrogen compounds and organic acids. Generally the total non-sugar organic matter in beet molasses is higher than in cane.
The proportion of crude protein in standard cane molasses is very low averaging about 3-5%. In beet molasses, about half the total content of the non-sugar organic matter is in the form of nitrogen compounds, particularly betaine and glutamic acid. There is also a significant quantity of organic acids in cane molasses, the major one being aconitic acid. Molasses also contains volatile fatty acids averaging about 1.3%.
MALTING GRAINS
Both malt and soy sauce are made from fermented grains. Raw grain is mostly composed of complex carbohydrates, or starch, with a small amount of protein and fats. Further, the grains have low amounts of essential amino acids and vitamins. Grains as well contain phytates, which act to bind minerals in the digestive tract, preventing their absorpsion (Katz and Voigt, 1986: 30).
Malting serves the purpose of converting insoluble starch to soluble starch, reducing complex proteins, generating nutrients, and the development of enzymes. Malting begins by soaking grain, usually barley, in water long enough to begin germination or sprouting. At the same time, enzymes are developing which break down starches to sugars. For example the growing rootlet produces the enzyme diatase, which acts on the starch and breaks it down to the simple sugar maltose. The grain is then heated in a large oven, called a kiln, which arrests germination and stops the growth of the grain. The temperature regime in the kiln determines the color of the malt and the amount of enzymes which survive for use in the mashing process. Low temperature kilning is more appropriate for malts when it is essential to preserve enzymatic (diastatic) power such as pilsner or pale ale malts.
Other grains, such as wheat, rye, soy and oats can be malted. However wheat malt contains considerably more protein than barley malt, often 13 to 18%, and consists primarily of glutens. Compared to barley malt it has a slightly higher extract, especially if the malt is milled somewhat finer than barely malt. European wheat malts are usually lower in enzymes than American malts, probably because of the malting techniques or the varieties of wheat used.
During fermentation, yeasts act on the maltose to produce alcohol. These yeasts greatly enhance the nutritional properties of the dish. Yeasts are excellent sources of lysine, riboflavin, niacin, and thiamin, and other amino acids and vitamins. Further, the growing yeasts reduce the phytate concentration in the grain (Katz and Voigt, 1986: 30). The yeasts will ferment sugars to alcohol in acidic, anaerobic conditions. The anaerobic conditions are provided by the yeasts themselves, which produce carbon dioxide as a meta bolic product- in a sealed container, anoxic conditions will arise. The acid conditions of the beer are produced by the fermentation action of lactic acid bacteria, primarily Lactobacillus, Leuconstoc, Streptococcus, and Pediococcus (Hessel tine, 1979: 368-370). These bacteria add more nutritional value, in the form of protien, amino acids, and vitamins, to the food product. Fermented grain foods generally have a protien content of 8-20%, as opposed to 1-2% protien in an unfermented grain dish. These fermented foods also have enhanced values of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, isoleucine/leucine, histidine, arginine, valine, tryptophan, lysine, tyrosine, cystine, and methionine (Hesseltine, 1979: 367-371).
Soy Sauce Making Process
Essentially, soy sauce is made from brewing soybeans in a brine solution. As with other brewing processes such as wine or vinegar, it is a bio-chemical process making use of appropriate species of microbes and their enzymes. In the case of soy sauce, the complex proteins in the soybeans are converted into simpler proteins called amino acids (of which there are 16 different types) and over 200 different volatile substances giving it a unique flavor and characteristic aroma. Chinese soy sauce involves a multiple-stage extraction from the brew. The first extraction is of the highest quality.