Abstract
Round slices of cucumber flesh of about 10 g each were soaked in eleven kinds of aqueous solution containing 10% NaCl and 20% of various classes of sugar alcohol at 4°C for 44 hours. The soaking solutions were composed of 10% NaCl and 20% sorbitol, maltitol, or commercial products named oligo-sugar alcohols A, T and P. The latter three are mixtures of sugar alcohols with different molecular weights.
The composition of each commercial product was analyzed by the HPLC method, and it was determined that oligo-sugar alcohol A contained 49% sorbitol and 35% maltitol, oligo-sugar alcohol T contained 40% maltitol and 38% maltotriitol, and oligo-sugar alcohol P was rich in oligo-sugar alcohol having a higher molecular weight than maltotriitol, amounting to 74%.
The rate of permeation of NaCl into the cucumber flesh during soaking was hardly affected by the presence of any class of sugar alcohol, because it principally depended on the osmotic pressure of NaCl.
The concentration of sugar alcohol that permeated into the cucumber flesh was generally higher in the presence of NaC1 than that in its absence from the soaking solution. Increasing absolute molecular weight and increasing average molecular weight of the sugar alcohol tended to decrease the permeated concentration. This was because permeation depended on the osmotic pressure created by the sugar alcohol used.
The progress of permeation of NaCl and the sugar alcohols decreased the moisture content of the cucumber flesh. The higher the absolute molecular weight or average molecular weight of the sugar alcohol, the less was the rate of dewatering of the flesh. This is attributable to the lower total osmotic pressure conferred by such classes of sugar alcohol.
These results indicate that the quality of the cured product can be controlled by mixing different classes of sugar alcohol to prepare the soaking solution.
