Abstract:

In this study, an ethnic fermented rice beverage- ‘Chubitchi’ from Garo Hills region of Meghalaya was closely ¬¬¬-monitored and was improvised with well characterised Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces strains to develop a product similar to it under laboratory conditions. A comparative analysis between the traditionally made and laboratory-made rice beverage was made to assess their storage period and bio-functional properties up to 40 days. During the organoleptic evaluation based on the scores of all sensory attributes, the laboratory-made rice beverage was acceptable till day 30 and the traditionally made rice beverage was acceptable till day 20. A decrease in pH and increase in acidity (%) with increase in fermentation time was observed for both rice beverage types.