Quality of Cucumbers Commercially Fermented in Calcium Chloride Brine without Sodium Salts

Table 2

Polygalacturonase activity and texture quality of cucumber pickles commercially produced in either 1.03 M NaCl recycled brine or 100 mM CaCl₂ brine.

Processing stage	Fermentation brine	Number of fermentation processes	Diffusion plate assay units	PG activity level^3	Mesocarp firmness
Fermented	NaCl	27		Slight to moderate
Fermented	CaCl2	41		Slight to moderate
Desalted	NaCl	20		None to slight
Desalted	CaCl2	36		None to slight
Finished product	NaCl	14		None to slight
Finished product	CaCl2	26		None to slight

Results of the diffusion plate assay for polygalacturonase activity presented as the mean net clear zone plus/minus the standard error of the mean; means followed by different lowercase letters represent treatments that are significantly different at . Polygalacturonase (PG) activity presented as a relative level that is commonly used by processors that recycle brines; average mesocarp tissue firmness presented as the mean peak puncture force in Newton plus/minus the standard error of the mean.