Abstract
In order to establish the quality standard of commercial soybean paste, pH, color, moisture, crude protein, isoflavone, free amino acid and organic acid contents of the fermented soybean food in both traditional and commercial products were analyzed. The crude protein contents were from 5.0 to 11.9% in commercial soybean pasted of Samjang and traditional soybean paste of Chungugjang, and the latter showed higher value than those of the former. The contents of isoflavones in commercial soybean paste were less than those of traditional soybean paste. Total contents of free amino acids were distributed from 301 to 4,602mg%, respectively, in which Chungugjang showed the smallest value of 301mg% and the traditional soybean paste showed the most abundant one of 4,602mg%. The ratio of glutamic acid to total free amino acids were 15.9% and 30.1% in traditional soybean paste and commercial soybean paste, respectively. The major organic acid both commercial soybean paste and Samjang was citric acid containing 109.9~196.5mg%. On the other hand, that of traditional soybean paste and Chungugjang was oxalic acid containing 82.8~130.1mg%. This results might be caused by the differences of brewed periods, microflora, processing methods and used raw materials.
