Changes in Quality Characteristics of Eggplant Pickles by Salt Content and Drying Time during Storage

Eggplant pickles were classified into three groups based on salt concentration (1, 3, 5%) and three groups based on drying time (30, 60 and 120 minutes), followed by storage at $5^{\circ}C$ for 28 days. Raw eggplant contains 94.82% water content. The increase in salt concentration and drying time caused a decrease in the moisture content. Compared to the 0.27% ash content of raw eggplant, the ash content of eggplant pickles increased noticeably with increasing salt concentration due to penetration into the eggplant pickles. pH values decreased significantly as the levels of salt concentration and dying time increased (p<0.05). In terms of storage time, pH values decreased from 21 days. The variation in salinity increased significantly as the concentration of salt increased. Compared to normal pickles salted at 5.39% salinity, eggplant pickles constituted 0.27~0.77% (1%), 0.40~1.14% (3%), and 0.47~11.20% (5%) 'low-salinity' eggplant pickles. Reducing-sugar content differed on the dates of 7, 14 and 21 in drying time and at 3% salinity. Hardness differed at 30, 60, and 120M on the 28th and 1, 5% salt concentration. Resilience differed according to drying time and from dates of 0 to 14th. The number of total microbes decreased at low salinity. In terms of storage time, the number of microbes tended to decrease after the 21st. In the consumer preference test, lightness of 5%-30M was the highest value.