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家成熟的黄瓜和辣椒种植、分拣和分级工厂，每年通常处理3500万磅黄瓜。成功地推出了他们的泡菜品牌，泡菜站正在准备一项新的发酵卷心菜企业。虽然将卷心菜发酵成泡菜是一项成熟的技术，但泡菜站在优化工艺方面寻求帮助，以生产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。与兰伯顿学院和泡菜站的合作项目将专注于确定实验室规模的最佳酸菜发酵参数。然后，小试测试的结果将被用于在250桶L桶中放大发酵。拟议的项目还将通过无脊椎动物堆肥饲养试验，确定将卷心菜废料用作昆虫和有机肥生产的饮食成分的价值和适宜性。拟议的合作项目的成功将为泡菜站提供批量生产泡菜的最佳工艺。作为一个在省和全国不断增长的市场，泡菜站将能够作为发酵卷心菜的中间生产商开始生产，并向工匠生产者供应散装酸菜，然后过渡到他们的罐装产品线，供应给零售商，从而创造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有知识的公司开发下一代发酵卷心菜产品。加拿大部门还将大大受益于当地生产和健康食品选择的增加，同时还具有需求稳定的优势，因为发酵卷心菜是一种消耗性产品。

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.