Evaluation of the quality of vegetables through measurement of nutritive and taste-active component.

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Quality of vegetables deteriorates as the freshness decrease. Changes in moisture and chlorophyll contents have been measured as the index of freshness as well as ascorbic acid, so far. However, there are little information about the changes in the sugars and organic acids, which are the important factor of the taste of vegetables. Thus we determined the sugars (HPLC), organic acids (HPLC) and free amino acids (amino acid analyzer) content in the spinach and cucumber during storage at 4C for 21 days and l0C For 10 days, respectively, In the spinach, sucrose content decreased and glucose and fructose contents increased during storage. Free amino acids contents increased maybe because of the decomposition of protein and synthesis from keto-acid via TCA cycle. Citric acid had a tendency of slight increase. These results are still repeatedly studying now.Cucumbers were stored at 10 C and 95%RH.This condition was thought to be good for cucumber and to be able to store for 2 or 3 weeks. On the day 10 of the storage, the mold is observed on the surface of the cucumber. Thus we should study to the best storage condition of the cucumber. Differ from the spinach, cucumber showed the tendency of the decrease in free amino acids and maric acid and of the increase in citric acid, but their variations were very large. Distribution from the top to the bottom(next to the stem) within one sample in the ascorbic acid and organic acids contents was determined. Contents of these components were different among the position within one cucumber. Sensory analysis are now under way.