Mitigation of Acrylamide and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in Black Garlic by Vacuum Aging

Abstract

Acrylamide and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) are chemical process contaminants generated in black garlic through the Maillard reaction. Vacuum aging (16 kPa, 70–75 °C for 12 days) was introduced as a new aging technology to mitigate acrylamide and 5-HMF in black garlic. Results showed that vacuum aging suppressed the formation of acrylamide (from 2.86 μg/g to below the detection limit, i.e., 100% reduction) and 5-HMF (from 173.26 μg/g to 7.90 μg/g, i.e., 95.4% reduction) in black garlic due to the reduced thermal exposure. Vacuum aging inhibited the Maillard reaction, and resulted in the higher lightness ( L = 22.14) and the lower browning degree (Δ E = 62.76) of black garlic than those ( L = 15.16, Δ E = 69.47) prepared by conventional aging. The reduced thermal exposure also restrained the hydrolytic release of fructose, glucose, total polyphenols, and total flavonoids in vacuum-aged black garlic. It reduced them by 95.0%, 100%, 89.9%, and 91.8%, respectively, which in turn diminished its antioxidant capacity by 58.4% and 79.1% based on the 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-Azino-bis (3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays. These limitations of vacuum aging, including decreased antioxidant capacity together with sensorial quality reduction, require further process refinement in future work before this technology can be implemented for industrial-scale production of black garlic.

Keywords

Black garlic / Vacuum aging / Acrylamide / 5-HMF / Mitigation / Maillard reaction

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