Replacement of Sodium Chloride by Potassium Chloride in Armenian Cucumber “Cucumis melo Var. Flexuosu” Pickles: Sensory and Microbiological Evaluation

Abstract

Pickles are considered as high salt food mainly due to the presence of high sodium ions added for taste and preservation purposes. This high amount will increase the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, an attempt was done to replace Sodium chloride (NaCl) by salt replacer which is potassium chloride (KCl) in Armenian cucumber pickles. Nine treatments were done with different salts percentages with and without chili pepper and garlic. All treatments were incubated at room temperature for 4 weeks then pH measurement, sensory analysis, and microbial analysis were performed. The pH values decreased with incubation and the lowest pH was 3.53±0.03 for Treatment 4 (75% KCl, 25%NaCl). Treatment 4 showed the highest reduction in both total plate count and yeast count with 78.5±3.0×10 CFU/ml and 73.0±3.0×10 CFU/ml respectively. There were virtually undetectable changes in taste up to 70% KCl (Treatment 6) substitution compared to Treatment 1(100% NaCl) based on the triangle test results. Based on 5-point hedonic scale, the lowest scores for taste were for Treatment 5 (100% KCl) with 2.70±0.40 but they were higher in the samples that contain chili pepper, while the other treatments showed insignificant differences compared to Treatment 1.The different treatments did not show any significant changes with respect to texture based on 5-point hedonic scale except the samples that contain both garlic and chili pepper which showed the lowest scores for taste and texture.