KARAGOZLU, Nural, Bulent ERGONUL and Cem KARAGOZLU, 2008. Microbiological attributes of instant tarhana during fermentation and drying. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 14: 353-541 In this research, changes in chemical and microbiological attributes of traditional tarhana dough were investigated during an eight-day manufacturing period including fermentation and drying processes. Initial water content and pH value of tarhana dough were 47.97±1.76% and 4.97±0.08 respectively before fermentation process. At the end of the manufacturing process water content and pH value of instant tarhana were 5.8±0.66% and 4.19±0.04 (P<0.05). Total mesophylic aerobic bacteria, coliform bacteria, E.coli, mould, yeast and lactic acid bacteria counts of tarhana dough were 5.55±0.45 log cfu/g, <3 cfu/g, <3 cfu/g, <1 log cfu/g, 3.66±0.27 log cfu/g and 3.44±0.28 log cfu/g respectively, whereas these values were 5.38±0.23 log cfu/g, <3 cfu/g, <3 cfu/g, <1 log cfu/g, 5.38±0.3 log cfu/ and 4.75±0.12 log cfu/g at the end of the manufacturing process.