Quality comparison of non-thermal sterilized raw apple vinegar and commercial apple vinegar products

Abstract

A nonthermally sterilized raw apple vinegar was manufactured using an ultra-fine filtration process (0.2 μm membrane filter) and its quality was comparable to commercially available vinegar products. First, using apple concentrate as a raw material, it was possible to produce non-thermal sterilized Using a two-stage fermentation process of alcohol and acetic acid fermentations, a non-thermally sterilized raw apple vinegar with pH 2.94 and an acidity of 6.20% was produced from an apple concentrate. The fermentation process increased the browning index significantly. However, the fundamental quality parameters of the non-thermal sterilized raw apple vinegar (A) with sterilized apple vinegar (B) did not differ significantly. The pH (2.92-2.95) of apple vinegar (A and B) was higher than that (pH 2.65-2.70) of commercial vinegar (C and D), and the total acidity, which is in the range of 6.20-6.21% and 6.53-6.90%, respectively, was higher in samples C and D than in samples A and B. However, four kinds of organic acids were detected in non-thermal sterilized raw apple vinegar (A), and its total organic acid content (6,245.00 mg%) was significantly higher than that of other samples (B, C, D) (p<0.05). In particular, malic acid content, as a main organic acid in apples, was very high in sample (A) (244.83 mg%) and sample (B) (210.21 mg%), compared to commercial products C (125.78 mg%) and D (86.90 mg%). The total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity of fermented apple vinegar (A, B) were more than twice as high as those of commercial products (C, D). Vinegar A had higher total polyphenol content than vinegar B. The above results suggest it is possible to manufacture and commercialize non-thermal sterilized raw apple vinegar with higher organic acid content and antioxidant properties using ultra-fine filtration.