Abstract:

Crushed, heated or pickled garlic cloves were evaluated for their garlicin content and nitrite scavenging capacity. The results showed that at fixed levels of storage temperature and pH, both garlicin content and nitrite scavenging capacity of crushed garlic cloves exhibited a tendency to first increase and then decrease as the length of storage time increased. An identical change pattern was observed with increasing storage temperature or pH. As the length of heating time or heating temperature increased, both garlicin content and nitrite scavenging capacity decreased and a more obvious decrease was observed for garlic slices when compared to whole garlic cloves. Pickled garlic cloves with vinegar exhibited a decrease in garlicin content with increasing vinegar amount, but the nitrite scavenging capacity initially presented an increase, followed by a decrease. Increasing tea amount resulted in lower garlicin content and higher nitrite scavenging capacity.

Key words: garlicin, processing method, nitrite