ACTA Scientiarum Polonorum

Abstract: The objective of the study was to determine quality changes of fresh and frozen (after 6 and 12 months) ‘Elsanta’cv strawberry homogenates. There were 3 variants of purée prepared: without sugar, with 5% and 10% sugar supplement. Dry weight, vitamin C, total polyphenol and total acidity were determined. Further both in fresh and frozen ho-mogenates (after 2 days, 6 and 12 months) total count of bacteria, yeasts and moulds as well as coliform and enterococci titre were estimated. During freeze-storage of pureé the least quantitative alternations were found for dry weight and total acidity whereas the highest for vitamin C and total polyphenol content. Protective effect of sugar towards mi-croorganisms was observed in the process of freezing. It was reflected in higher bacteria, yeast and mold counts in homogenates with 5 and 10% of sugar supplement compared to non-sugar variant. Freshly frozen homogenates showed excessive – compared to the re-quirements – mold and yeast counts (> 5×102 cfu∙g-1) whereas after 6 months of storage in all the homogenates no yeasts were found, the molds were sparse and higher bacteria count (103 cfu∙g-1) was noticed only in 10% of sugar supplement variant. After 12 months microbiological status of all the frozen purée was similar.