Effect of Salts on the Hardness of Cubed White Radish

Abstract The principal objective of this study was to investigate the association of variable salts with the hardness of cubed white radish. We analyzed the contents of domestic sun-dried salt, Chinese sun-dried salt, domestic refined salt, Australian rock salt and Australian industrial sun-dried salt in the radish samples. Our assessment of the water content of variable salts showed that domestic refined salt was highest(7.27%) and Australian rock salt was lowest(0.16%). The NaCl contents of variable salts were as follows : 93.23% in refined salt, 93.76% in Australian rock salt, 87.85% in domestic Shinan sun-dried salt and 87.98% in Chinese sun-dried salt. The content of insoluble matter in water were 0.03～0.05% in all salts except 0.85% in Australian industrial sun-dried salt. The pH values of salts were as follows : 8.93 in domestic sun-dried salt, 8.62 in Chinese sun-dried salt, 6.69 in refined salt, 5.83 in Australian rock salt and 6.41 in Australian industrial sun-dried salt. Regarding the mineral component content assays, domestic salt was found to harbor lower Na content but far higher Mg, K, Ca contents than other salts. In our evaluation of the hardness of cubed white radish, we detected a continuous increase in the hardness of cubed white radish soaking in a 4% salt solution of domestic Shinan natural salt, but an initial increase followed by a decrease in the hardness of cubed white radish soaking in a 4% solution of the other salts.Key words: salts, radish, hardness, mineral, heavy metal.