## 3 Results  
### Biochemical Characterization of the Beverages  
The effect of lactic fermentation on the moisture content, titratable acidity and macronutrient composition is shown in Table 1.  
Before fermentation, the black chickpeas slurry had a pH of 6.1 and decreased up to 4.5 after incubation at 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 16 h with the three different starter mixtures, confirming the effectiveness of the fermentation process. The pH of the control group decreased up to 5.7, most probably due to spontaneous fermentation. As shown in Table 1, the moisture content was similar in all samples. The TTA values were significantly higher in the samples inoculated with different LAB cultures compared with the control. Among the fermented beverages, STLP had the highest value, followed by ST and STLL (Table 1).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **CTRL** & **ST** & **STLL** & **STLP** \\ \hline TTA & 0.90 \(\pm\) 0.70 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 1.65 \(\pm\) 0.70 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.45 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 1.80 \(\pm\) 1.40 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Moisture & 726 \(\pm\) 0.62 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 721.5 \(\pm\) 18.0 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 731.5 \(\pm\) 2.10 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 733 \(\pm\) 11.4 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Sucrose & 30.2 \(\pm\) 1.40 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 19.7 \(\pm\) 0.80 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 11.1 \(\pm\) 0.40 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 9.60 \(\pm\) 0.60 \({}^{\text{d}}\) \\ Frutose & 0.20 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 2.40 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.20 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 0.30 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ Glucose & 0.10 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.20 \(\pm\) 0.0 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.10 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.20 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Fat & 17.2 \(\pm\) 0.90 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 16.8 \(\pm\) 0.60 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 16.7 \(\pm\) 0.40 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 17.8 \(\pm\) 1.20 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Saturated fat & 3.20 \(\pm\) 0.20 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 2.20 \(\pm\) 0.30 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.90 \(\pm\) 0.10 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.80 \(\pm\) 0.40 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ Carbohydrates & 127 \(\pm\) 0.40 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 131 \(\pm\) 1.40 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 116 \(\pm\) 0.40 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 115 \(\pm\) 0.40 \({}^{\text{c}}\) \\ Proteins & 118 \(\pm\) 1.40 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 117 \(\pm\) 1.50 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 121 \(\pm\) 3.20 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 122 \(\pm\) 7.02 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Calories from proteins & 47.9 \(\pm\) 0.14 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 48.64 \(\pm\) 0.49 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 47.6 \(\pm\) 0.21 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 47.35 \(\pm\) 0.21 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
Means with the same letter are not statistically different with [PERSON]’s test at \(p\leq\) 0.05.  
\end{table}
Table 1: Total titratable acidity (TTA) (%), moisture content (g kg\({}^{-1}\)), sugars concentration (g kg\({}^{-1}\)), fat and saturated fat (g kg\({}^{-1}\)), proteins (g kg\({}^{-1}\)), calculated carbohydrates (g kg\({}^{-1}\)) and calories from proteins (kcal) in beverages made with black chickpeas and fermented with _Streptococcus thermophilus_ (ST), _Streptococcus thermophilus_ and _Lactococcus lactis_ (STLL) and _Streptococcus thermophilus_ and _Lactobacillus plantarum_ (STLP). A beverage without inoculum (CTRL) was used as a control. Data are expressed as means \(\pm\) SD.  
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After fermentation, all the texture parameters and lightness (I*) and redness indexes (a*) increased, while the yellow index (b*) decreased.  
In particular, the firmness did not differ between fermented beverages, while STLP was characterized by a considerably lower consistency, cohesivity and viscosity when compared with ST and STLL. Regarding the color index, STLP had the highest I* and the lowest a* among fermented beverages, while STLL had the highest b*. The \(\Delta\)E of the LAB-fermented samples was calculated and compared to the CTRL in order to better evaluate the color differences between the samples. The \(\Delta\)E was higher in STLP (4.05) than in ST (3.55) and STLL (3.41).