Problematic Occurrence of Tyrosine Crystals in the Thai Soybean Paste Tao Chieo

In a Bangkok soy sauce factory that had recently converted to controlled inoculum and incubation for the koji stage of fermentation, a problem arose with unsightly white particles in the soybean paste condiment called tao chieo. This problem had not arisen during the previous history of the factory where the koji stage of the fermentation was uncontrolled. Microscopic examination of the particles showed that they were crystalline. Physical separation of the crystals followed by solvent extraction, recrystallization, chemical characterization, and spectroscopy showed that they consisted of tyrosine. Tao chieo prepared by using low- or high-protease strains of Aspergillus sp. indicated that the tyrosine crystals resulted from mold proteolysis of the soybean substrate. Addition of polyethylene glycol at the beginning of the moromi fermentation reduced the severity of crystal formation.