Process: How Tape Fermented

For the foreign people, please note, read the word ‘tape’ with the right pronunciation. Read that as [tΛpe], not [teIp]. Tape, yes tape. What is tape? Tape is a kind of Indonesian food which is made from glutinous rice. It is a fermented food, so the glutinous rice has to be fermented first. Why tape? Because it is very delicious!

As I told you before, tape is made by fermented glutinous rice. In the process, the glutinous rice is fermented by yeast first, in a closed container. Why it has to be fermented in a closed place? Because the process of the fermentation has to be clean, not contain any harmful bacteria that come from air. After about a week, the fermented tape that we are ready to eat will had been finished, and we can enjoy it. But, what happens in the one week time while we are waiting? I will tell you.

After a day when we begun the process by add the yeast in the glutinous rice, the oxidation-reduction reaction has begun. This reaction engage the micro organism (yeast), separates the organic substance, in the common ways it is glucose, into aldehyde, alcohol, and acid. After the reaction that can happened until five or six days, the micro organism produces water, carbon dioxide and a number of energy. And finally, the fermentation has finished. From the first, we just have some glutinous rice and yeast. But at the end, we got more because it contains water, sugar or glucose and alcohol.

adapted from http://www.forumsains.com/biologi/tape/