Determination of the effect of wheat germ on the mineral and fatty acid composition and aroma compounds of tarhana: A traditional fermented cereal food

In this study, to supply to the trend toward natural and functional foods that do not include synthetic products, the wheat germ which exists as waste in nature was added to tarhana formulation in order to increase the nutritional content of tarhana. Wheat germ supplemented tarhana samples met the recommended dietary allowances of iron. A total of 63 compounds were detected and quantitated in all samples. Terpenes and terpenoids were observed as the dominant compound group. The addition of wheat germ to tarhana dough resulted in an increase in the number of volatile compounds. The most abundant odor‐active compounds were acetic acid and 2‐acetylpyyrole.The mineral (Mg, K, Zn, Mn), fatty acid (undecaenoic, linoleic, gondoic acid, and α‐linolenic), oil, acid (propanoic and hexanoic), alcohol (linalool, benzyl, phenylethyl), aldehyde ((E)‐2‐heptenal, nonanal, 5‐methyl‐2‐phenyl‐2‐hexenal), ketone (3‐Octen‐2‐one), terpene (junipene, citronellol, trans‐Carveol) contents of tarhana samples can be increased by addition of the wheat germ. Practical applications The wheat germ which exists as waste in nature and contains a high amount of essential amino acids, proteins, fatty acids, minerals, dietary fiber, vitamins, etc. Wheat germ can be added to cereal‐based food formulation such as tarhana in order to supply to the trend toward natural and functional foods that do not include synthetic products. Tarhana (basically made from yogurt, wheat flour, herbs, tomato, pepper, onion, etc.) which is a traditional fermented dry Turkish soup is rich in vitamins, minerals, and proteins. Wheat germ based‐fermented products such as Tarhana may be considered promising new functional foods due to its probiotic effects in order to expand the market due to the increasing trend toward functional foods.