Chloride salt mixtures affect Gordal cv. green Spanish-style table olive fermentation

摘要

This work studies the effects of different sodium (in the range of 4-10%), potassium (0-4%) and calcium (0-6%) chloride salt mixtures on the fermentation profile of Gordal olives processed according to the Spanish style. For this purpose, response surface methodology based on a simplex centroid mixture design with constrain (sum of salt percentages = 10%) was used. All treatments reached appropriate titratable acidity levels, but this parameter could not be related to the initial chloride salt concentration. The presence of CaCl_2 led to lower initial and after-fermentation pHs, delayed sugar diffusion into the brine, its maximum concentration and titratable acidity formation. CaCl_2 also delayed Enterobacteriaceae and yeast sprang, decreasing their overall growth. This chloride salt also showed a tendency to reduce overall lactic acid bacteria growth. KC1 had a similar behaviour to NaCl but, in general, increased overall microbial growth. Thus, a partial substitution of NaCl in Spanish-style green olives with KC1 and CaCl_2 does not substantially modify the fermentation profile but does produce some changes, which, when properly managed, could help to improve product processing.