Abstract
The physicochemical and microbial characteristics of Oiji prepared with dry salting method, which has been used industrially for industry, were investigated. Low salting and low storage temperature were employed:extremely low salting extremely low temperature; ESET $(5\%,\;0^{\circ}C)$, very low salting extremely low temperature;VSET $(10\%,\;0^{\circ}C)$, extremely low salting very low temperature; ESVT$(5\%,\;5^{\circ}C)$, low salting very low temperature; VSVT$(10\%,\;5^{\circ}C)$ and high salting low temperature;HSLT$(30\%,\;10^{\circ}C)$ for control. Acidity was lower, and pH was higher in VSET, in of which the fermentation pattern was similar with that of HSLT The time required to reach the optimum acidity ($0.3\%$ lactic acid) was longer delayed for VSET (168 days), than for compared to ESVT (51 days). During storage of Oiji, greenness (-a) as measured with of the Hunter color system wasshowed the highest in VSET, and the lowest while in ESVT, the lowest. Total microbial and lactic acid bacteria counts number were the lowest in HSLT and VSET and were the lowest than in other groups, while the highest in ESVT. Yeast was not detected in HSLT, but was the highest while in VSVT. E coli coliform and listeria were detected in the $5\%$ salting groups, although Salmonella was not detected in any of the all groups. Texture profile analysis demonstrated exhibited that fracturability and hardness were highest in HSLT and VSET, compared to the other groups. Scores of over-all preference for ESVT and HSLT were higher atwith 6.3 and 6.2, respectively, compared to the other products. Based on these results, lower saltiness less than $10\%$ and lower storage temperature (less than $5^{\circ}C$) condition was optimum for maximizing the better for good quality of industrial Oiji preparation in industry.
