Abstract:Water chestnut Cake is a favorite food for all ages. It tastes sweet but not greasy. Due to its rich nutrients, horseshoe cake is prone to spoiling as the microorganisms grow. In this study, the single factor and orthogonal experiments were conducted to study the effect of different sterilization temperature, time, preservatives and addition on the antibacterial effect and the quality during storage. The results indicated that when the sterilization condition was set 110 ℃ for 30 min, the sterilization effect was better than other conditions. According to single factor test, sodium dehydroacetate was selected as the preservative for horseshoe cake, and 0.32 g/kg of sodium dehydroacetate was added, the total number of colonies after 15 days of the horseshoe cake was 6363 cfu/g, indicating that the storage period of horseshoe cake could be prolonged to 15 days. Furthermore, the quality changes during storage were explored, after 10 days of storage, the ΔE* value increased significantly (p<0.05), and after 15 days, the ΔE* value was more than 2, which could be caused a visual color difference. The elasticity, stickiness, cohesive and chewiness of cakes showed no significant changes (p>0.05) from 0~5 days, while the texture storage after 15 days showed significant differences (p<0.05). Combined the growth of microorganisms with the changes in color and texture, it can be concluded that the storage period of horseshoe cake could be prolonged to 15 days, and the best edible period of horseshoe cake should be 0~5 days. This research can provide theoretical and technical support for the industrial production of horseshoe cake products.
