Abstract
Fresh gingers, harvested in Seosan, Choongcheongnam-do, were pre-treated by a washing-pasteurizing-drying process, a curing process, and non-treated, respectively. Then they were stored in a lab-scale storage room(12$^{\circ}C$, >92%RH) to investigate the effect of pre-treatment methods on the quality changes during long-term storage. Weight loss of ginger during storage showed ranges in 0.7∼4.3%, and the weight of gingers pre-treated by washing-drying process showed a tendency to change less than those treated by curing. After storage of 130 days, spoilage rates were about 20% in non-treated, 11% in curing treated, and 12% in washing-drying treated ginger,, showing the effect of pre-treatment. The final rate of sprouting was 13∼15% regardless of treatment methods. The firmness of gingers showed a tendency to decrease in stored ginger for the longer period; however, the values were ranged from 1,200 to 1,400 g/$\textrm{cm}^2$, that is hard enough to show a marketable quality. The contents of reducing sugar showed a tendency to increase with the lapse of storage time.
