Effects of artificial fermentation on quality of tobacco strips

To study the influences of artificial fermentation technology on the quality of tobacco strips, the variations of moisture content, chemical components and sensory quality of strips at heating stage, holding stage and cooling stage of artificial fermentation were investigated. The results showed that:1) In the artificial fermentation process, there existed a moisture desorption-absorption process in strips. The contents of reducing sugar, total sugar and alkaloids (mainly nicotine) decreased, nitride degraded and potassium content increased slightly. The chlorine content raised under different fermentation conditions, though not significantly in general. 2) In the process of fermentation at 50.0℃ and RH 55.0% for 5 days, upper and middle leaves reached their best smoking quality; the appropriate duration of holding stage for lower leaves was 3 days. In conclusion, artificial fermentation promoted the sensory quality of tobacco leaves. 3) The fermentation duration was shorter in an intensive fermentation process (50.0℃ and RH 55.0%) than that in a low intensity fermentation process (45.0℃ and RH 50.0%).