Augmenting vitamin C in cabbage

Abstract

The popularity of fermented foods is due to their enhanced shelf life, safety, functionality, sensory and nutritional properties. This has therefore prompted interest in fermented vegetables. Cabbage is a highly preferred vegetable since it’s a cheap good source of vitamin C and also its easily and cheaply preservation through fermentation as sauerkraut which also enhances the vitamin C content of the cabbage. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant which is its most vital role is as a water-soluble vitamin in the human body. The objective of this research was to determine if fermentation augments the vitamin C content in cabbage. Two colour varieties of cabbage i.e. red and white were used with two samples of each colour variety. The samples were labelled accordingly (X and Y) for the red cabbage and (A and B) for white cabbage. Each sample was shredded, mixed with 2% salt concentration and fermented for 10 days. The fermentation process was monitored through measurement of pH. The ascorbic acid content was examined before and after the 10 days fermentation period by titration with iodine solution (0.005M) for the extracted cabbage juice of the samples. During the fermentation process, the pH of the fermented samples decreased significantly to 3.4, 3.5, 3.7 and 3.6 for samples A, B, X and Y respectively. The ascorbic acid content of the samples A, B, X and Y increased to 36.37, 53.72, 111.40 and 121.52 mg/100g of cabbage respectively after the fermentation process. The results of this study showed that in general, fermentation enhances the vitamin C content of cabbage and the red cabbage variety has higher vitamin C content in both the fresh and sauerkraut forms.