Shelf-life study of osmodehydrated white cabbage packaged in modified atmosphere: A mathematical approach

Abstract

Osmotic treatment (OT) is a process applied for drying of fruits and vegetables where the hypertonic solution is osmotic medium. White cabbage (cultivar „Futoški“) shelf-life analysis was conducted after OT in three different hypertonic solutions: a mixture of commercial sucrose and NaCl (S1), a mixture of S1 and molasses in the ratio 1:1 (S2) and. pure sugar beet molasses (85.4% dry matter) (S3). After the OT, cabbage samples were packed in high barrier bags in the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). The composition of two mix-tures of used gas (40:60/CO2:N2 and 80:20/CO2:N2) was imported into bags. The samples were analysed for L-ascorbic acid content, pH, acidity and a total number of microorganisms and sensorial attributes during 90 days of storage in a refrigerator at 4-8 °C in defined time intervals. During the 90-day storage in the MAP, microbiological analysis showed that the number of microorganisms decreased during the storage in the MAP. The highest retention of ascorbic acid (27.35%) was observed in OT cabbage dehydrated in pure molasses solution and 80:20/CO2:N2 gas mixture after 90 days of storage. Sensory analysis showed that osmodehydrated cabbage for 20 days in S1, and 45 days for OT cabbage in solutions S2 and S3 had acceptable consumable characteristics.