Journal of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences ISSN:2233-8322(Print) 2508-870X(Online) 농업생명환경연구

Kimchi is a traditional Korean probiotic food prepared through fermenting vegetables with probiotic lactic acid bacteria. With an increase in the consumer needs for the vegan products, the field of Kimchi industry has been attempting to develop vegan Kimchi products. However, differences between vegan and non-vegan Kimchi in terms of manufacturing production and processes are unclear. In this study, we investigated the components of organic acids and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) during (non)-vegan kimchi production depending on the fermentation period and temperature condition. At first, the profiling of organic acids was quantified during fermentation at low (4℃) and room (25℃) temperatures, respectively, using HPLC-UV. The contents of organic acids in both types of Kimchi contained latic, acetic, citric, succinic, malic, oxalic, and fumaric acids at the first day of fermentation. At twenty days of fermentation, all contents of organic acids in vegan Kimchi had higher level than those in non-vegan Kimchi. In the next study, we investigated the content of VBN of vegan Kimchi compared with that of non-vegan Kimchi. The level of VBN in both increased depending on the fermentation period. Interestingly, the level of VBN in vegan Kimchi was lower than that of non-vegan Kimchi during fermentation. Conclusively, these results indicate increased contents of organic acids and decreased level of VBN in vegan Kimchi compared with non-vegan Kimchi, and thus, vegan Kimchi products could be competitive enough compared to the non-vegan Kimchi products.