1.

ABSTRACT

Food preservation is known as science related to the process of preventing of decay or

food spoilage thereby allowing it to be stored in an appropriate condition for future use
preservation ensures quality, edibility and the nutritional value of food remain intact.
Preservation involves the prevention of bacterial growth, fungi and other microorganisms as
well as reducing oxidation of fat to reduce rancidity. Food preservation also ensures that there
is no aging or discolouration. Pickling is one of type of food preservation. Pickling is the
process of preserving or extending the shelf life of anaerobic fermentation in salt water or
soaking in vinegar. Pickled food is the one of the beneficial food that can improve digestive
food. Preservation by using pickling will allow the growth of these friendly bacteria, which
will replenish their numbers in our digestive system and restore our health beside it can
extend shelf life of that fruit or vegetable. In this experiment, the colour of lime changed into
yellowish green in colour, the smell remained same as the fresh one, the pH solution not
really changed, the s is increase because solution is transferred into lime and the solution
turns cloudy. With the absence of mold or any spoilage, the result of the experiments get
should be as expected. However, many considerations should be taken to avoid spoilage
during the pickling process. In preserving the lime, the maturity of lime should also be
considered either than the conditions of limes and materials used. Different materials have
different effect on the final results of pickling.

2. INTRODUCTION

The term food preservation refers to one of several techniques used to prevent food
from damaging. It includes methods such as pickling, drying, irradiation, addition additives,
frozen freezing, irradiation, smoking and filtering. Food preservation has become an
increasingly important food industry component. Generally, food preservation is to extending
the shelf life of food and beverages. It is primarily on easily vulnerable ingredients. It makes
food available throughout the year without affecting the texture or taste of the food.
Pickling is one of the easiest ways of preserving food and pickling is among the oldest
known methods of preserving food. By pickling, food can be preserved, and the taste and
flavour are being enhanced. The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the
food an interesting twist in flavour. In South Asia, vegetable oil and vinegar is used as the
pickling medium. If pH is lower than pH 4.6, which is sufficient to kill most bacteria.
Pickling can preserve perishable foods for months. Antimicrobial herbs and spices, such as
mustard seed, garlic, cinnamon or cloves, are often added. If the food contains sufficient
moisture, a pickling brine may be produced simply by adding dry salt.

Pickling, one of the oldest ways to preserve food, depends on salty, acidic brine and
spice and herbs to give a special flavor. Liquid spice and herbal extracts help pickled
processers achieve their flavoring goals in a conveniently and consistent. Spice extract
provides proper flavor control, clean water, cleaner and sterile.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Key Lime

Key lime is known as Citrus Aurantiifolia in scientific name, however it also known
as Lime, Key Lime, Mexican Lime, or Mexican Thornless Key Lime. Basically, it small
evergreen tree that usually found in tropical Asia. The key lime plant usually grows up to 5 m
tall and it has dense and irregular branches, spiny twigs, small, dark green leaves, and
yellowish white flowers. Key lime contains less Vitamin C than lemon. However, key limes
have a massive amount of sugar and citric acid content than lemons, and key limes are more
acidic than Persian (“Key Lime or Mexican Lime: Description, History, Facts and Uses,”
n.d.). The key lime normally are thin-skinned, juicy, very acid, and fragrant. This plant is
suitable with three (3) climates which are tropical climates, subtropical with winter rain such
as in the Mediterranean and semitropical with summer rainfall as found in Florida and
southern Brazil (Huxley, 1999). Afterwards, the optimum temperatures for their cultivation
range between 25 - 30°c, while the coldest month having an average minimum of at least
15°c. The growth of plant of key lime will be effect when the temperature below of 15oC and
above than 38oC. This plant can produce the flower and the fruit all the year around. The key
lime is native to Southeast Asia. Its obvious path of introduction was thru the Middle East to
North Africa, then to Sicily and Andalusia and through Spanish explorers to the West Indies,
which includes the Florida Keys (“World Agroforestry Centre | Transforming lives and
landscapes with trees,” n.d.).

From the Caribbean, lime cultivation unfold to tropical and subtropical North
America, consisting of Mexico, Florida, and later California. Since the North American Free
Trade Agreement came into effect, many Key limes on the US market are grown in Mexico,
Central America and South America. They are additionally grown in Texas, Florida, and
California. Basically, the key lime fruit will be used in cooking as flavouring to meal. The
wealthy flavour and acid taste make lime a favoured for warm and spicy dishes, either fresh
or in the form of pickles and sauces. For the western food, the peel of the key lime will be
chopped and put into meat as sweetmeat. Sometimes the leaves of the plant also had been
used in cooking, it will be added into soup and also as condiment in Javanese dishes. The key
lime also had been used in medical due to is an aromatic, astringent, and cooling herb (Bown,
2001). An infusion of the leaves is taken internally in the remedy of minor complaints such as
bilious complications and colds. It is also used in the treatment of snakebites, wounds, and
dandruff itch. An essential oil, acquired from the peel and recognized as lime oil, is a top
supply of chiral. Then, lime yields oil that is used in making perfume, soap, chewing gum,
food, and sweets.

3.2 Pickling

According to Dr. Bruno Xavier, a food processing authority at Cornell University,

pickling can be defined as a sort of controlled decay. Pickling will involve some substance
which is sugar, vinegar and salt. The vinegar that contain acid will naturally forming acids in
the food itself, slows down that decaying process. Then, the salt consist amount of calcium
that will help preserve some of the crunchiness of the pickle. Pickling based on vinegar is
faster than fermentation- pickling. Basically, pickling can be applied to vegetables, meat,
fish, eggs, fruit and even nuts. Pickles have been around for thousands of years, relationship
as far returned as 2030 BC when cucumbers from their native India have been pickled in the
Tigris Valley. The phrase “pickle” comes from the Dutch ‘pekel’ or northern German
‘pókel’, that means “salt” or “brine,” two very important factors in the pickling process.
Mostly simple method to do pickle, fruit and vegetable will be chopped into required size.
Then, they will be store inside the glass jar to keep the vacuum condition so that it can
prevent the effect of the microorganism. The brine solution should be prepared. The brine
solution consist of vinegar, salt and sugar that will be boiled to dissolved the solution.

According to USDA, the fruit pickle contains energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates, dietary
fibre, and sugars. The nutrition that contain in the pickle which are iron, magnesium,
phosphorus, potassium and sodium. Additionally, vitamins that include thiamine, riboflavin,
niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, vitamin B-12, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin D, vitamin C, and
vitamin K (“Food Composition Databases Show Foods -- Pickles, cucumber, sour,” n.d.).
Pickled fruit or vegetables contain a lot amount of antioxidant which is Decalepis hamiltonii
or Swallow root pickle. Pickled food is the one of the beneficial food that can improve
digestive food. Preservation by using pickling will allow the growth of these friendly
bacteria, which will replenish their numbers in our digestive system and restore our health
beside it can extend shelf life of that fruit or vegetable.

Figure 3.1: Cucumber that had been Figure 3.2: Cucumber had been
chopped into desired size. stored in the glass jar.
4. METHODOLOGY

Cut the lime into two different shapes of thinly sliced and half of a whole.

Dissolved 4 table spoons if salt in 200 mL of boiled water.

The cut lime nedd to be immersed in brine solution for 20 minutes.

Remove the brine solution from lime.

5 table spoons of sugar is dissolved using boiled water.

The lime is arranged inside the container.

The sugar solution is poured into container with lime.

The container then left for fermentation for 7 days.

Observed the lime and solution.

 5. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

a) Thinly sliced lime

INITIAL OBSERVATION DIFFERENCES FINAL OBSERVATION

Fresh lime in green color COLOUR Lime turns yellowish green

Citrus retains as fresh as one
Citrus FLAVOR
week earlier.
The solution in clear water
SOLUTION Sugar solution turns cloudy
solution
3 pH 3

139.69 MASS (g) 148.68

b) Half of a whole

INITIAL OBSERVATION DIFFERENCES FINAL OBSERVATION

Fresh lime in green color COLOUR Lime turns yellowish green

Citrus FLAVOR Citrus retains a bit sour

Sugar solution turns cloudy
The solution in clear water
SOLUTION with sedimentation on
solution
solution.
3 pH 2

121.92 MASS (g) 126.06

DISCUSSION

It is better to carry out proper pickling to prevent microorganisms from causing

spoilage to food. In this experiment, limes were being used as material for our pickling
experiments which the process was unfermented pickling. For unfermented pickling, limes
were placed in jar covered with boiling water, some salt and sugar solution. However, in our
experiment, we immersed limes in brine solution for only several minutes before adding
sugar solution. These pickles method was easier to be prepared. In order to get high quality of
pickles, all the ingredients used need proper consideration (Hutson, 2009).

Firstly, the maturity of lime also will affect the results. This was because mature lime
contains low acidity thus it needed fewer amount of sugar in preserving. Before starting the
pickling process, the lime should be examined carefully to determine the condition of the
limes either it in fresh condition and bruise free or not. Lime should be washed carefully to
reduce the contaminants which can contribute to spoilage (Redlinge and Francis, 2011).
Nevertheless, in this experiment we observed the condition of lime pickling that were being
cut into two different sizes; thinly sliced and half of whole shape. From the observation, the
lime cut in thinly sliced gained more mass compare to the other shape as the brine and sugar
solution penetrated more into limes. It can be concluded that the more surface area exposed,
the more solution entered the limes.

Then, after seven days pickling, the clear water solution turned into cloudy solution.
These cloudy solutions were detected for both solutions for the reason that we used salts that
has anti-caking agents. Hence, in order to avoid the solution from turn cloudy, we supposed
to use canning salt rather than table salt. Moreover, for the solution that contains half shaped
lime in size has a sign of mold appears. This was because the lime cut in half shaped is not
properly washed before pickling. Next, the color was changing from green color to yellowish
green for both lime shapes as the lactic acid bacteria grow during the pickling to preserve the
limes. Furthermore, soft water should be used in pickling to help the pickles to cure properly
and hard water contains high iron content in fact will cause discoloration of limes. Also, iron
spoon was not advisable to be used during pickling because the iron present will discolored
the lime later on. (Ingham, 2002).

After that, the flavor of limes were being observed. From initial observations, the
flavor was citrus but after seven days, the flavor for thinly slice still as fresh as one week
earlier but for the half shaped lime, the flavor was citrus retains a bit sour. Actually, the
flavor should be as fresh as one week before because we used white sugar that functioning to
preserve effect of flavor. Yet, for the half shaped limes, the mold produce was causing the
off-flavor in lime pickles. In addition, during the pickling process, bacteria converted sugar to
lactic acid, and this lactic acid caused the tangy flavor of pickles. Besides, during the pickling
process, the pH reading supposedly reduces but in our experiments the pH was not really
affect. This was because there were some errors occurred during taking and reading the pH
paper (Ingham, 2002).

Last but not least, level of acidity, fruit size and percentage of salt in solution should
be taken into consideration and influenced the pickles that need to be preserved. The lid of jar
also needed to be sealed tightly to avoid any contaminants hence causing the growth of mold.
6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
 7. REFERENCES

Bown, D. (2001). New Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London.
https://doi.org/0751302031

Food Composition Databases Show Foods -- Pickles, cucumber, sour. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 25, 2018, from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/11941

Hutson, L. (2009, June 30). Ancient art of pickling. Retrieved from

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/aug/20/ancient-art-of-pickling/

Huxley, A. (Ed). (1999). The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press (Vol. 1).
MacMillan Press.

Ingham, B. (2002). The Garden is Ready …. Time to Make Pickles!

Key Lime or Mexican Lime: Description, History, Facts and Uses. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 25, 2018, from http://www.foodreference.com/html/artkeylimes.html

Redlinge, P., & Francis, S. L. (2011). CANNING: PICKLES.

World Agroforestry Centre | Transforming lives and landscapes with trees. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 24, 2018, from http://www.worldagroforestry.org/
8. APPENDICES

Figure 8.1: Lime cutting into thinly Figure 8.2: Lime immersed in brine
Shapes solution

Figure 8.3: pH paper use to check pH solution Figure 8.4: Lime place in jar
Figure 8.5: Lime condition after 7 days Figure 8.6: Formation of mold in
solution