## 3 Results and Discussion
Therefore, in this study, an instrumental measurement of the color of unprocessed white garlic (WG) and black garlic (BG) and the products of its further processing, i.e., powder (BG-P) and spreading paste (BG-S), was performed, and the obtained results are presented in Table 3 and Figure 7.  
Significant (\(p\) < 0.05) differences were found in all color parameters in the L* a* b* color space between white unprocessed garlic (WG) and various black garlic products (BG) (Table 3). Large differences were noted in the case of the L* parameter, describing the lightness. White garlic (WG) was over 3.3 times brighter (85.94 \(\pm\) 0.26) than black garlic (average for all black garlic products: 25.44 \(\pm\) 0.35), which confirms the caramelization or Maillard reactions during the fermentation of black garlic leading to the production of browning products in black garlic, changing the color of the product to dark brown or even black. The obtained results are similar to the results of other authors [13; 16; 28; 31; 32; 42; 52]. Additionally, differences in the lightness of the black garlic products were found. The L* parameter in the garlic clove (BG-C) and spreading paste (BG-S) samples were at a similar level (25.66 \(\pm\) 0.15), while the garlic powder (BG-P) had the lowest lightness (25.00 \(\pm\) 0.01) and therefore the darkest color, which would indicate a greater intensity of browning. Significant differences were also found in the a* color parameter related to the red tone. The value of this parameter in unprocessed white garlic (WG) was on average 3.11 \(\pm\) 0.11, while as a result of the long-term fermentation processes of garlic, it was significantly reduced to 2.15 \(\pm\) 0.05 for garlic in the form of cloves (BC-C) and spreading paste (BC-S), which did not differ in this parameter. Interestingly, the black garlic powder (BG-P) had the significantly highest (\(p\) < 0.05) value of the a* parameter among all analyzed samples  
Figure 6: PCA plot of the similarities and differences in the taste and profile of volatile compounds identified in the garlic samples: (**a**) e-tongue, (**b**) e-nose. WG—white garlic, BG-C—black garlic cloves, BG-P—black garlic powder, BG-S—black garlic spread. (4.71 \(\pm\) 0.02), which proves the greatest red shift in the case of this product. For the b* color parameter, describing shades of yellow, the significantly highest value was found in white garlic (WG) (53.77 \(\pm\) 1.67), while the samples of black garlic showed an almost four times lower intensity of this color (average 13.94 \(\pm\) 4.13). Furthermore, in the case of shades of yellow, the different products obtained from black garlic showed significant differences. Black garlic in the form of cloves (BG-C) and black garlic spreading paste (BG-S) did not differ significantly in terms of yellow color saturation (average 11.18 \(\pm\) 0.03), and similarly to the parameter a*; however, they differed significantly from the black garlic powder (BG-P), which showed the greatest color shift towards the yellow color (19.45 \(\pm\) 0.08). No comparative data were found in the literature for various black garlic products--i.e., clove, powder and spreading paste. Figure 7 above shows a detailed analysis of the color of unprocessed white (WG) and black (BG) garlic and its processing products by an instrumental method (\"electronic eye\"). According to the results from our research, the differences in the color parameters in the L* a* b* system in the tested garlic samples indicate a significant influence of both the long-term heat treatment processes and the further processing of black garlic (powder/spreading paste), resulting in the production of products with very different properties, including organoleptic ones.