Production of Pickled Mustard Greens (Brassica Juncea)

Abstract

Mustard greens are fresh during the harvesting season but perishable under the prevailing conditions of temperature and humidity as well as lack of adequate storage facilities. An alternative way of preserving surplus mustard greens could be fermented to pickle products. Preservation of the mustard green by fermentation can eliminate the undesired taste and improve flavor of the vegetable. Therefore we explored a lactic fermentation from mustard greens by focusing on the effect of different parameters such as blanching time and temperature as pre-treatment, salt concentration, fermentation time to physicochemical, microbial and sensory characteristics of pickled mustard greens. Experimental results revealed that blanching raw mustard green in water heated at 95^oC in 10 seconds, 6% salt in 12 days of fermentation was appropriated to get a pleasant pickled mustard greens quality. Mustard greens pickles are considered as one of the health supplements.

Keywords: Mustard greens, Lactic fermentation, Salt, blanching, Physicochemical, Microbial, Sensory.