The Effect of Irradiation on the Quality Properties of Tarhana

Tarhana is a traditional food produced by the fermentation, drying and grinding of dough prepared with wheat flour, yoghurt, various vegetables and spices. Microbiological risks and pest formation are the major problems encountered during the storage of tarhana. In this study, the effect of irradiation was determined in order to eliminate microbiological risks and pest formation while preserving the quality features during the storage of tarhana. Depending on the irradiation dose, microbial inhibition occurred in tarhana samples, and the maximum protection was achieved with 10 kGy. Nevertheless, doses of 2.5 and 5 kGy inhibited the growth of Bacillus cereus. Additionally, all irradiation doses prevented pest formation. The consistency coefficient of soups prepared with irradiated tarhana samples decreased depending on the irradiation doses. There was no difference in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity and total phenol content in the control with irradiated tarhana samples. However, the 10 kGy irradiated tarhana sample included higher thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. In conclusion, irradiation was applied for the first time to preserve tarhana by reducing the microbiological risk and preventing pest formation. Accordingly, a 5 kGy irradiation dose was recommended, with which the tarhana rheology was affected slightly.