Several ingredients of kimchi including chinese cabbage, garlic, leek, big green onion, and small green onion were assayed for their chitinase activities. Kimchi with various leek contents (4, 8, 12%) were fermented at 15℃ for 9 days and the chitina...
Several ingredients of kimchi including chinese cabbage, garlic, leek, big green onion, and small green onion were assayed for their chitinase activities. Kimchi with various leek contents (4, 8, 12%) were fermented at 15℃ for 9 days and the chitinase (EC 3.2.1.14) activity and textural properties were determined. The chitinase activity of the ingredients was in the order of garlic>leek>small green onion>chinese cabbage>big green onion. During fermentation, the chitinase activity of kimchi juice appeared more prominent than that of kimchi tissue, however, it was decreased in all kimchi samples among which the control sample showed a remarkable drop. The activity of chitinase in kimchi tissue increased until 3rd or 5th day of fermentation and then decreased. The puncture force of all kimchi samples decreased and those of leek-added kimchi were higher than those of control. The above results suggested that the addition of leek for kimchi preparation could contribute to the improvement of textural qualities of kimchi due to chitinase activities of leek during fermentation.