Quality Characteristics of Tteokgalbi with Black Rice Bran and Organic Acid to Substitute Synthetic Caramel Colorant

This study aimed to evaluate the quality characteristics of Tteokgalbi with 1% (w/w) black rice bran only (T1), or with black rice bran and one of the following four types of organic acid: ascorbic acid (T2), citric acid (T3), tartaric acid (T4), or maleic acid (T5) as a substitute for caramel colorant. Tteokgalbi with only black rice bran showed the highest (p<0.05) values of moisture content and water holding capacity (WHC), while there were no significant differences in protein content, fat content, ash content, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) values in treatments and controls (p>0.05). All the treated samples with any one of the four organic acids showed lower pH than controls (p<0.05). The lightness and redness of Tteokgalbi treated with any one of the four organic acids and black rice bran were higher than those of T1. The volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) values of T4 and T5 were higher than those of the other treatments (p<0.05). With regards to sensory characteristics, T1 and T2 showed overall acceptability similar to that of the controls (p>0.05). The results reported in this study show that Tteokgalbi with black rice bran and any one of the four organic acids listed above not only improved quality characteristics in cooking loss, WHC, lipid oxidation but also could successfully replace the synthetic caramel colorant. Overall, the most satisfactory results were obtained by adding black rice bran and ascorbic acid.