Preparation and evaluation of appetizers from lactic acid fermented vegetables

In the present study, an attempt was made to develop and evaluate the appetizers from fermented vegetables. The vegetables were fermented using sequential culture of lactic acid bacteria viz., Lactobacillus plantarum (NCDC 020), Pediococcus cerevisiae (NCDC 038) and Streptococcus lactis var diacetylactis (NCDC 061) as per the conditions optimized earlier. Different combinations of fermented vegetables viz., carrot, radish and cucumber with pear and mango pulps were made separately and were processed as per the routine practice. All the appetizers were prepared using common recipe of appetizer preparation having a constant TSS of 45°B and different combinations of fermented pulp viz., 10, 20 and 30% with fruit pulps of mango, apricot and pear as per the respective combinations. The titratable acidity of carrot, radish and cucumber based appetizers ranged from 1.12 to 1.72%. The blending ratio influenced the titratable acidity, brix-acid ratio, pH and colour of the appetizers. Physico-chemical and sensory characteristics of all the appetizers prepared met the specifications of Fruit Products Order (FPO), Government of India. Among various carrot and cucumber based appetizers, products prepared with fermented carrot only and the appetizer with a blend of 10% fermented cucumber + 20% apricot were preferred to others. In the sensory quality evaluation, the fermented radish based appetizer having 20% radish + 10% apricot was rated the best. Out of the three vegetables and pulps, radish based appetizer having 20% radish + 10% apricot had the highest overall acceptability and was rated the best. The cost of production of fermented vegetable based appetizers ranged between Rs. 10.70 to 11.08 per 200 ml bottle. The lowest (Rs. 10.70 per 200 ml bottle) cost was recorded for carrot based appetizer containing fermented carrot only followed by radish appetizer.