Marination with aronia, grape and hawthorn vinegars affects the technological, textural, microstructural and sensory properties of spent chicken meat

1. The purpose of the present research was to detect the efficacies of various vinegars (aronia, grape and hawthorn) used as marination solutions on the physicochemical, technological, textural and sensory properties of spent chicken meat. The pH, colour parameters, cooking loss, marinade absorption, yield, texture (TPA and MORS), characteristics via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and sensory properties of marinated spent chicken samples were determined. 2. Marination solutions used in the treatment groups were prepared with aronia, grape and hawthorn vinegars. The samples were agitated by hand to provide even dispersion of the solid ingredients in the marinades and were kept at 4°C for 24 h. 3. The pH values of the samples were between 4.70 and 6.04. Marination with various marination solutions caused significant differences in terms of the a* and b* values of samples (P < 0.05). While marination with aronia vinegar decreased the b value of the samples, the use of grape and hawthorn vinegars in the marination solutions increased this value. 4. Hardness and chewiness were the lowest in samples marinated with grape vinegar (P < 0.05) and were 135.14 and 48.79 N, respectively. As a result of marination with various vinegars, there was a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the MORSF and MORSE values. 5. Marinade absorption values decreased by marination with various vinegars. The highest yield values were found in the samples marinated with hawthorn vinegar (P < 0.05). The SEM indicated that marination with aronia, grape and hawthorn vinegar caused larger gaps between muscle fibres compared to the control samples. 6. Samples marinated with vinegars had higher texture scores compared with the control. Consequently, the marination with vinegars such as aronia, grape and hawthorn has the potential to improve the technical and textural properties of spent chicken meat.