Effects of Fruit Size on Fresh Cucumber Composition and the Chemical and Physical Consequences of Fermentation

The composition of pickling cucumbers varied with fruit size, which affected buffer capacity, sugar utilization, terminal pH, and texture of the fermented fruit. We found that as cucumber size increased (from less than 27 to 51 mm in dia), malic acid, pH, buffer capacity, and dry matter content decreased, and glucose and fructose contents increased. Fruit firmness and bloater damage were greater in large than in small, fermented, whole cucumbers. Blanching (75 °C, 30 s) had little effect on the fermentation and prevention of bloater formation in finished products, regardless of fruit sizes. It was demonstrated that cucumber juice can serve as a model system for studying the metabolic, but not the physical (texture, bloater damage), consequences of lactic acid bacteria chosen as starter cultures for cucumber fermentation.