As one of applications of rice processing, we investigated the preparation conditions as a beverage of saccharified rice flour solutions subjected to lactic acid fermentation using a bacterium isolated from kefir. The palatabilities of the prepared beverages were evaluated by students and elderly people.
The optimum mixing ratio of glucoamylase A-treated and gluczyme-treated saccharified solutions as the beverages was 9:1, and lactic, acetic, citric, malic and succinic acids were detected in that fermented solution. The fermented solution including 3% erythritol was evaluated as most favorable by both students and elderly people. Compared with students, evaluation values of elderly people were higher for all samples, and the difference of acceptance by elderly people was small between the fermented and the non-fermented saccharified solutions. Expressions for the taste of samples were considerably different between both panels.