Chemical composition, fatty acid composition, and volatile compounds of a traditional Kurdish fermented cereal food: Tarkhineh

Tarkhineh is a traditional Kurdish fermented food made from the wheat meal (bulgur) and Doogh and is extensively consumed by people from all walks of life. The strategies of chemical composition (ash, protein, crude fat, salt), headspace solid-phase microextraction, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS) were applied to analyze Tarkhineh. The amount of ash and protein was relatively high, while the amount of fat was low. The average ash, protein, fat, and salt contents of the samples were 5.37%, 10.45%, and 1.46%, 4.87% respectively. A total of 9 fatty acids were identified in Tarkhineh, comprised of 34.42% unsaturated and 65.66% saturated fatty acids. Palmitic acid (48.58%), oleic acid (30.42%), stearic acid (6.29%), myristic acid (5.13%), and linoleic acid (4.1%) were the major fatty acids. Furthermore, 13 volatile compounds were identified. Hexadecane (53.42%), tetracosane (9.68%), and tetradecane (9.34%) were the most common aroma volatile compounds in Tarkhineh. This study provides new information on Tarkhineh that will be useful in explaining its unique properties.