Abstract

Sigumjang made from barley bran is a traditional fermented food only found in Gyungsang-do area of South Korea. Appearance, tastes and flavors of sigumlang differs from Doenjang (well-known Korean traditional fermented soybean paste). We investigated characteristics of sigumjang and isolated strains of microorganism with high enzymatic activity from sigumjang meju. We collected 19 kinds of sigumjang and 14 kinds of sigumjang meju, which is dried-fermented barley bran and serves as the basis of sigumjang. Methods of sigumjang meju-making are different by region from baking directly the dough of barley bran or after steaming the dough. Sigumjang showed lower pH of 4.37 - 5.99 compared to other Korean traditional fermented jang, because of its lactic acid fermentation. 13 strains showed high hydrolysis activity of cellulose, starch, protein among 51 strains collected from the 14 kinds of sigumjang meju. SM-26 stain showed a high enzymatic activity of cellulase, amylase and protease. SM-26 stain was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. based on its 16S rRNA sequence analysis.

Key words: Barley bran, Enzymatic Activity, Korean traditional-fermented food, Microorganism, Sigumjang