Determination and Optimization of the Cabbage Fermentation Process to Produce a High-Quality Sauerkraut Product and Sustainable Sauerkraut Production within a Circular Economy

位于查塔姆-肯特郡的泡菜站是一个成熟的黄瓜和辣椒种植，分拣和分级操作，通常每年处理3500万磅黄瓜。成功推出他们的品牌泡菜，泡菜站正在准备一个新的发酵白菜企业。虽然将卷心菜发酵成泡菜是一项成熟的技术，但Pickle Station寻求帮助，以优化工艺，生产出符合目标人群消费者偏好的高质量产品，同时也符合循环经济中的可持续生产目标。与兰顿学院和Pickle Station的合作项目将专注于确定实验室规模的最佳泡菜发酵参数。然后将实验室规模检测的结果用于通知250 L桶中的放大发酵。该项目还将通过无脊椎动物堆肥的饲养试验，确定将卷心菜废料用作昆虫和有机肥料生产的饲料成分的价值和适用性。该合作项目的成功将为The Pickle Station提供散装酸菜生产的最佳工艺。作为一个不断增长的省级和全国市场，泡菜站将能够作为发酵卷心菜的中间生产商开始生产，并为工匠生产商提供散装酸菜，然后过渡到他们的罐装产品线，以供应给零售商，从而创造了最初的五个新的就业岗位。此外，该项目的成果将进一步支持泡菜站和其他公司开发下一代发酵卷心菜产品的知识。加拿大部门也将大大受益于当地生产的健康食品选择的增加，同时也具有稳定需求的优势，因为发酵卷心菜是一种消费品。

The Pickle Station, located in Chatham-Kent, is an established cucumber and pepper growing, sorting, and grading operation that typically handles 35 million pounds of cucumbers annually. Successfully launching their brand of pickles, the Pickle Station is preparing a new fermented cabbage venture. Although fermenting cabbage to sauerkraut is a mature technology, the Pickle Station seeks assistance in optimizing the process to manufacture a high-quality product that matches the consumer preferences of the target population while also aligning with sustainable production goals within a circular economy.The collaborative project with Lambton College and The Pickle Station will focus on determining the optimum sauerkraut fermentation parameters at bench scale. The results from the bench-scale testing will then be used to inform scaled-up fermentation in 250 L barrels. The proposed project will also determine the value and suitability of using cabbage waste as a diet ingredient for insect and organic fertilizer production via feeding trials with invertebrate composting.The success of the proposed collaborative project will provide The Pickle Station with an optimal process for bulk sauerkraut production. As a growing market provincially and nationally, The Pickle station will be able to start production as an intermediary producer of fermented cabbage and supply artisan producers with bulk sauerkraut then transition to their line of jarred product to be supplied to retailers, resulting in the creation of an initial five new employment positions. As well, the results of this project will further support the Pickle Station and other companies with the knowledge to develop next-generation fermented cabbage products. The Canadian sector will also greatly benefit from the increased availability of locally produced and healthy food options while also having the advantage of stable demand as fermented cabbage is a consumable product.