Quality and Antioxidant Activity Characteristics During Storage of Tea Leaf Pickles with Different Vinegar Contents

Abstract This study investigated the quality characteristics of tea leaf pickle with different pickling solutions. Blanched tea leaf at 100°C for 3 min was pickled using pickling so lutions (mixture of water, soy sauce, sugar an d vinegar) with different vinegar contents (10, 20, 30 and 40%, v/v). and stored for 30 days at 4°C. The color values, hardness, pH, total acidity, sensory evaluation, antioxidant compound contents, DPPH radical scavenging and ABTS radical scavenging of the pickled tea leaf during storage were determined. The pH of tea leaf pickles decreased consistently and total acidity was increased during storage. The L-value of tea leaf pickles was decreased and the a-value was increased significantly during storage; however, the b-value had no significant changes ( p <0.05). The hardness of the tea leaf pickles decreased consistently during storage. On the sensory evaluation, the highest score of overall acceptance was presented to the tea leaf pickle using a 20% vinegar pickling solution stor ed for 20 days. The antioxidant compound co ntents and antioxidant activity consistently decreased during storage; further, the experimental group of vinegar with 20% content tea leaf pickle displayed the lowest antioxidant compound content and antioxidant activity.