Electron beam irradiation shortened the processing cycle of Chinese solo-bulb black garlic: Changes in critical physicochemical properties

Electron beam irradiation (EBI) was used to pretreat the solo-bulb fresh garlic (SBFG) to shorten the production cycle of solo-bulb black garlic (SBBG). The critical physicochemical indicators were analyzed and compared between EBI pretreated and commercial SBBG in this study. The results showed that EBI pretreatment significantly accelerated the browning reactions by destroying the cell structure of SBFG, and obviously shortened the production cycle of SBBG to 9 days. The total acid (TA), total polyphenol (TP), and total flavonoid (TF) contents in the EBI pretreated SBBG were all obviously increased compared with those of the control without EBI pretreatment, which were beneficial to improving the quality of SBBG. Meanwhile, the 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (5-HMF) and acrylamide contents as potentially harmful substances to human health were also significantly increased within the safe levels. The alliin content was more affected by the EBI pretreatment than other amino acids in SBBG as the irradiation dose exceeded 6 kGy. These results indicate that EBI pretreatment can be an alternative technology to improve the production efficiency of SBBG and apply in industrial production.