Turnips (Brassica rappa) Extract as a Source of Alternative Vinegar

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Vinegar, from the French " ̃vin aigre', meaning "sour wine" , can be made from almost any fermentable carbohydrate source. It has been found out that for every 100 grams of turnip extract, there was 6 grams of carbohydrates. In a broader perspective, it has been recorded in April that the country's inflation rate rose to 5.1% --the highest in more than 6 years. Commercial vinegar's prices rose with the inflation rate. The purpose of this study was to determine the significant difference between the turnip vinegar and the commercialized vinegar through physical and chemical properties, pH level and the percentage acidity. This study explored the said aspects of the produced turnip vinegar as a low-cost alternative to the vinegar in the market.

METHODS

Two treatments were produced and conducted in the study. In preparation of treatment 1, the turnips were crashed to get 500mL of juice. The mixture rested for 3 minutes and was filtered using cheese cloth to remove dregs. ½ cup of vinegar starter and 5 tablespoons of sugar were added before the fermentation begun. The researchers repeated the process for treatment 2 with 1L turnip juice, 3 tablespoons of sugar and ¼ cup of vinegar starter. The treatments were fermented for a month and were heated for 20 min to get rid of all microorganisms present in the mixture. The treatments were placed in glass bottles.

RESULTS

The sensory evaluation revealed that in terms of color, there is no significant difference among three treatments. In terms of taste and odor, only T1 is comparable to T3. However, the densities of both T1 and T2 are not comparable toT3. The researchers went to JefCor Laboratory in Barangay Langkaan, Dasmarinas City, Cavite to test the two treatments. Based on the result, Treatment 1 has a pH level of 3.6 and contains 2.53% of acid while Treatment 2 has a pH level of 3.9 and contains 1.95% of acid which indicates that both treatments were acceptable as vinegar and safe for human consumption. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and t-test were used to analyze the data gathered in the study. The color, taste, odor and density of the vinegar were evaluated using ANOVA and t-test.

DISCUSSIONS

The results showed that the amount of the turnip extract, sugar and water used to produce vinegar affected the chemical and sensory properties of the turnip vinegar. Treatment 1 was the closest to commercialized vinegar. Therefore, there is a possibility of producing vinegar out of turnips extract as a closest substitute to commercialized vinegar.