Fermentation Quality Characteristics and Flavor Formation Changes During the Process of Pickled Wax Gourd in Eastern Zhejiang

Using pickled brine as samples of natural pickled wax gourd at different stages of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 d, respectively, pH value, reducing sugar content, number of lactic acid bacteria and total bacteria, as well as organic acid content and volatile components, were investigated in this study. As a consequence, the lactic acid and acetic acid concentration increased with the decreasing of pH and sugar exhaustion through the pickling process. A total of 60 kinds of volatile compounds were detected, including 12 alcohols, 6 acids, 11 aldehydes, 12 ketones, 4 esters, 6 silicones, and 9 other compounds. At the end of 20 days fermentation, the abundant volatile compounds were identified including alcohols (47.58%), acids (36.00%), and esters (5.94%), with the highest content of acetic acid (27.97%), followed by ethanol (23.69%). The contributions of these compositions were clarified by electronic nose technology method combined with principal components analysis.