Product and redox potential analysis of sauerkraut fermentation

The relationships between the redox potential of the brine, during fermenta tion of white cabbage into sauerkraut of two early and two late fermentatio n processes, and the changes in the amount of sugars, organic acids, the re dox potential of the brine and of the ascorbic acid redox couple, and pH ar e described. The trend in the change of the redox potential of the brine is the same for all four fermentation processes studied. In the first phase a sharp decrease in redox potential is followed by an increase in redox pote ntial. In the second phase the redox potential is rather constant. This sec ond phase is followed by another decrease in redox potential, which stabili zes at a minimum value, the third phase. It was observed that sugar ferment ation and acid production mainly took place during the first and third phas es, probably representing, respectively, the heterogeneous and homogeneous fermentation processes.