Abstract
ABSTRACT
Okara is a nutrient‐rich soybean‐processing byproduct whose food use is limited by undesirable beany‐flavor and variable functional properties. This study examined the individual and interactive effects of thermal pretreatment and the duration of spontaneous fermentation on the sensory, physicochemical, compositional, phytochemical, and functional characteristics of okara flour. Wet okara was either left untreated or heated at 90°C–100°C for 5 min, then spontaneously fermented at 25°C ± 3°C for 0, 12, 24, 36, or 48 h in a randomized 2 × 5 factorial design with three independent processing replicates. Data were analyzed by blocked two‐factor analysis of variance followed by Tukey's HSD test. Fermentation duration affected beany‐flavor intensity (
p
p
> 0.05). Significant thermal pretreatment × fermentation duration interactions occurred for pH, titratable acidity, and water absorption capacity (
p
p
= 0.049) and fermentation duration (
p
p
< 0.001), whereas Hausner ratio and Carr's index remained unchanged. Among the treatment combinations evaluated, the thermally pretreated 12‐h sample had the lowest observed beany‐flavor intensity while retaining the broader compositional and functional characteristics assessed. This treatment‐level observation should be interpreted descriptively because the thermal pretreatment × fermentation‐duration interaction for beany‐flavor intensity was not significant.