Effects of lyophilized red cabbage water extract and pH levels on the quality properties of pastırma cemen paste during chilled storage

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2020.101696Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Some properties of lyophilized red cabbage water extract (LRCWE) were determined.

  • The effects of LRCWE in çemen paste with different pH were determined.

  • During storage, color quality of cemen paste with low pH was better preserved.

  • The LRCWE increased the redness (a∗) values and storage stability of cemen paste.

  • The best results were determined in cemen paste with 1.2% LRCWE and below pH 5.0

Abstract

Pastırma is a dry-cured and dried meat product and its coating with a paste defined as “cemening” is one of the most important stages in the formation of its color and quality. However, discoloration is an important problem during production and storage. In this study, the effects of lyophilized red cabbage water extracts (LRCWE; 0.0%, 0.4%, 0.8% and 1.2%) and pH values (4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0) on the color quality and storage stability of the pastırma cemen paste during chilled storage (4 ± 0.5 °C for 90 days) were investigated. LRCWE contain high amounts of phenolic compounds and anthocyanins. Addition of LRCWE and low pH values improved color properties of the pastırma cemen paste (P < 0.01). The best results for the a∗ value were determined in cemen paste with 1.2% LRCWE. The most effect of the LRCWE was determined in low pH values cemen paste (4.0 and 4.5), thus, pH levels below 5.0 were determined as the threshold value for the effectiveness of extract in pastırma cemen paste. In addition, color stability was maintained better in low pH values cemen paste during storage. By lowering the pH values of the pastırma cemen paste, the color quality was preserved and discoloration during storage was prevented.

Introduction

“Cemening” is a process used for coating of salted or dry-cured meats in the production of pastırma. The paste used for cemening is defined as "cemen paste". In the cemening process, after dry-curing the dried or salted meats and the two drying and pressing processes are completed, the meats are kept in cemen paste at 7 °C for 4–5 days, then the excess paste around the meat is removed, and a thin layer (2–3 mm) remains on the surface of meat and the addition of cemen paste is completed (Aksu et al., 2017). In addition, the cemening process provides a water-salt balance between meat and cemen paste, and the amount of salt in the salted meat is reduced. One of the most important steps in the formation of pastırma quality is the cemening process, and with the cemening process, the typical taste/aroma formation specific to the pastırma is provided as well as improving the color quality and palatability of the pastırma. Additionally, cemen paste affects the free amino acid composition of pastırma (Ceylan and Aksu, 2011).

The main ingredients in cemen paste production are Trigonella foenum graecum (fenugreek) seed flour, garlic, paprika, red pepper and water, but their usage rates can vary depending on the producers (Cetin et al., 1996; Aksu et al., 2006, Aksu et al., 2016; Hastaoglu and Vural, 2018). The composition of cemen paste used in pastırma production per kg is generally 500 g fenugreek seed flour, 350 g garlic, 75 g paprika, 75 g red papper and 1200 ml water (Aksu and Kaya 2002, 2005; Aktaş et al., 2005; Erdemir and Aksu, 2017). “Cemen" or “cemen paste” has been described as "fenugreek" in many studies. However, “fenugreek” is the name of the plant Trigonella foenum graecum L. Therefore, in this research, the term “cemen paste” was used instead of “fenugreek” due to the compositional differences (Doğruer et al., 1998; Yetim et al., 2017). So, in this paper, the term “cemen paste” is the fenugreek seed flour plus garlic, paprika, red pepper and water.

The color of cemen paste that affects the color quality of the pastırma is due to the red pepper included in its composition. If the red pepper does not have the desired quality and properties, the color of the cemen paste becomes pale and the pastırma allure and quality decreases. Therefore, synthetic food coloring is often used in the production of cemen paste for pastırma, and its color features are improved. In this context, the necessity of adding synthetic food coloring to the cemen paste is emphasized (Kök, 1985). In recent research, the use of natural dyes in foods is recommended as the use of synthetic dyes negatively affects human health, and it is emphasized that the best source of color is natural colorants (Jensen et al., 2011; Patras, 2019; Aksu et al., 2020).

Color pigments found in various fruits and vegetables of natural origin include compounds such as betalain, anthocyanin, carotenoid and chlorophyll (Jensen et al., 2011). Anthocyanins are the best natural food dyes that provide bright red color formation in many foods. Due to these properties, it has been stated that anthocyanins can be used as an alternative to synthetic dyes in the coloring of many foods (Giusti and Wrolstad, 2003). The color properties of anthocyanins range from blue to red depending on the pH value being blue at high pH value and red at low pH value. In addition, red cabbage is interesting for consumers not only because of its intense red/purple color, but also because it has important nutritional, oxidative stability and flavor values (Wiczkowski et al., 2015). In this context, anthocyanins are an important alternative natural source for cemen paste, but the pH value (5.9–6.0) of the pastırma cemen paste does not provide the desired redness feature. Therefore, it is important to determine the effects of anthocyanin-rich red cabbage extract on the color values of the pastırma cemen paste with different pH values, and the most suitable level of lyophilized red cabbage water extract for pastırma cemen paste. There are some previous studies on cemen paste quality using natural plant, fruit and vegetable extracts. In one study, it was determined that the use of carrot, red cabbage and black grape extracts in cemen production affects the CIE L∗, a∗, b∗ color values of cemen paste stored for 21 days (Yetim et al., 2010). In other studies conducted by Aksu et al. (2015), Aksu et al., 2016 and Aksu et al. (2020), various properties of red cabbage extract were determined and their utilization in cemen paste production was investigated. However, the fact that cemen paste with different extracts in these studies all had same pH prevented the determination of the behavior of anthocyanins. Therefore, there is a deficiency of literature on this subject. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different levels of lyophilized red cabbage water extract (LRCWE), pH values and storage time on the color quality and stability, and storage stability of the pastırma cemen paste. The current research has the feature of being the first in determining the effect of LRCWE on pastırma cemen paste produced at different pH values.

Section snippets

Materials

Red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. rubra), Trigonella foenum graecum L. seed flour, fresh garlic, powdered paprika and powdered hot red pepper were used as cemen materials and the materials were all these purchased at the different store from Erzurum, Turkey.

Obtaining lyophilized red cabbage water extracts (LRCWE)

After cleaning and washing the red cabbage, it was broken into 1–2 mm pieces in a kitchen mixer (Sinbo SHB- 3042, Turkey). After adding 400 mL of water to 20 g of cabbage, it was homogenized using an Ultra-turrax homogenizer

Lyophilized red cabbage water extracts

The average pH and titratable acidity of LRCWE were determined as 5.58 and 1.21% citric acid, respectively. The pH values (5.52 ± 0.02) of the LRCWE obtained in the study conducted by Aksu et al. (2020) are compatible with our findings, but the researchers found the titration acidity values in the previous study higher (1.96 ± 1.16%). The pH and acidity value of the extracts are an important factor in determining the quality and color properties, as they show different color properties

Conclusions

In this study, it was determined that the effect of the color compounds in extracts was increased by lowering the pH values of cemen pastes, and therefore the quality of cemen paste was improved. The best results regarding the desired red color for cemen paste value were obtained in the groups containing 1.2% extract and pH 4.0 and 4.5. Also, in terms of color properties (especially a∗ value), these cemen paste groups had the highest storage stability compared to other groups. As a result,

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Muhammet İrfan Aksu: Conceptualization, Project administration, Methodology, Data curation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Emre Turan: Methodology, Formal analysis, Visualization, Investigation, Writing - original draft. İhsan Güngör Şat: Funding acquisition, Investigation, Resources.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Atatürk University Research Center (BAP: 2015/170).

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