• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.784-792
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• 2010

Mild heat treatment was applied to ginger rhizomes to achieve shelf-life extension for fresh minced ginger. The rhizomes were treated at 45, 50, 55, or $60^{\circ}C$ for different periods of time, minced, and stored at $10^{\circ}C$ for 9 days. Microbial levels in minced fresh ginger decreased with increases in temperature and duration of heat treatment. The non-treated and treated samples did not significantly differ in color at the initial stage of storage. Changes in color were detected after 3 days, and accelerated after that time. The ${\Delta}E$ value of control samples reached 12.42, whereas that of treated samples (except when $45^{\circ}C$ was applied for 60 min) ranged from 7.67 to 10.96, after 9 days. There was no significant difference in initial pH value between control (pH 6.09) and treated (pH 6,046.20) samples. The pH of control samples increased to 8.02 after 9 days, whereas pH values of samples treated at $50^{\circ}C$ and $60^{\circ}C$ ranged from pH 6.807.83 after 9 days. The percentage of control drip was 25.65% at the initial stage of storage, which was lower than those of treated samples. Drip increased to 38.63% in the control and to 34.20~38.44% in treated samples after 9 days. The sensory characteristics of the control samples were similar to those of treated samples at the initial stage of storage. After 6 days, the control and some treated samples developed off-flavors and discoloration. However, samples treated at $50^{\circ}C$ for 60 min retained favorable quality characteristics for 9 days after storage.