The present invention relates to a process for preparing a probiotic product from cereal grains crop and pasta as a starting material (separately or any mix of them) and a probiotic food containing the product prepared from a cereal grains and pasta as a starting material.

In the present invention, the term "cereal grains" relates to the seeds (separate or mixed) from the list: Barley, Rye, Spelt, Wheat, Triticale, Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) and Buckwheat. All of them can be used as Whole grains or Groats. They are the basis of kasha, which is staple meal of Eastern Europe.

Term "pasta" relates to variants of noodles, - food made from a dough (of flour, water and/or eggs). It can be made from any flour except Rice flour, Corn flour, Sorghum flour, Millet flour, and Oats flour.

Term LAB relates to Lactic Acid Bacteria is a general name given to gram-positive bacteria witch assimilates sugar and whose final metabolite contains more then 50% molecule number of LA (lactic acid).

BACKGROUND AND THE SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The bioavailability of macro and micro nutrients of food consumed by a human can be greatly improved by use of fermentation technology.

Used before techniques bear mixed character, mostly uncontrolled due to variable microorganisms present. Inability to consistently attain high standards of quality of final product (household level) which make this practice in modern society limited. The preparation of fermented foods moves from the small-scale household level to large-scale production.

Besides, traditional methods would not allow the final product to gain characteristics of probiotic food.

The following suggested method is void of these drawbacks.

The novel method solves the problem by distributing the food subjected to fermentation into jars. In that case the starting material is protected from contamination of pathogenic organisms. This defense is active from the beginning to end of the entire fermentation process at the favorable LAB temperatures. The consequent storage in the refrigerator according to the proposed method takes place in the same containers.

The active phase of the fermentation process is accompanied by gas production.

Consequently, the storage containers need to have a valve (or not completely tightened lid of the jar) during that period. Another prerequisite for successful fermentation are sterilized containers and the initial cooked product (free of pathogenic microorganisms).

It removes all kinds of risks linked with biologically contaminated raw materials. The combination of appropriate starter culture and delivery mechanism turns the final product into safe lacto fermented (with alive bacteria! !) food.

Fermentation process being initially capsulated greatly reduces probability of contamination of undesirable micro flora which contributes to a longer refrigerated shelf life.

The complexity of this method is compared to canning at the household level. The proposed method of capsulated LAB fermentation can be applied to cereal grain crop and pasta products as starter material (or any combination of them as well).

Once the starter material is cooked, it should be in the form of porridge or kasha (boiled pasta). Any vegetable oil or salt can be added (which is optional).

Before inoculation with LAB, the cooked starter material should be cooled down to appropriate temperature.

EXAMPLE 1.

The production process of probiotic product based on cereal grains can be outlined in the following steps.

^" Washing

Soaking,

SALT, VEGETABLE OIL

LAB GR FERMENTED PULSES

Inoculating

Mixing & jar placement

"Maturing Refrigerating

1. Soaking (optional stage) in water (2OC, 5-10 -15 hrs)

2. Cooking. Steaming or boiling in low quantity of water. ( Do not overcook)

3. Cooling (to 35-40C)

4. Inoculating with kefir or LAB cultures (not Koji molds). As alternative

inoculating material, fermented pulses could be used as well. This is even more preferable because it increase the protein quality of the final product. The sequence of preparation of it - see Appendix 1.

Mixing & jar placement.

Maturing Inoculated and mixed cereal seeds distributed into sterilized canning jars or containers , which should be kept in a warm place (~ 35- 37C for l-5days) for maturing process until it reaches desirable sourness of product. During maturing process lids on jars should be loose in order to let excess gas come out.

Refrigerating. Lids are tightened up.

EXAMPLE 2.

The production process of probiotic product based on pasta can be outlined in the following steps.

^* Cooking

SALT ₀ VEGETABLE OIL

"Cooling

LAB OR FERMENTED PULSES

Inoculating

'Mixing & jar placement

^" Maturing 'Refrigerating

In order to gain Prebiotic quality of final product, preferably to use whole grains pasta.

1. Cooking. ( Do not overcook)

2. Inoculating with LAB (or kefir) starter. Great taste and flavors are obtained by using fermented pulses as inoculation material (7:3 weight ratio, that is 7 units of pasta to 3 units of fermented pulses).

3. Mixing & jar placement

4. Maturing process takes place in jars (containers) covered with lids similar to the previous Example 1.

5. Refrigerating: Lids tighten up in order to prevent contamination of final

product. Airtight containers Oars) account for longevity of the final product.

Appendix 1.

Production of fermented pulses for the inoculation purposes is similar to the above stated method and is based on LAB fermentation in covered jars of previously cooked beans. See details in PCT/IB2009/053282.