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| Effect of Thawing Method on Physicochemical Properties of Frozen Surimi and Fish Balls |
| CAO Meng, LIU Chang, WANG Ying, WANG Jiale, LI Jianfang |
| 1. College of Food Science and Engineering, Xinyang Agriculture and Forestry University, Xinyang 664000, China; 2. Department of Animal Science, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea |
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Abstract We aimed to explore the effects of different thawing methods (air, running water, microwave, hot water, and low-temperature thawing) on the quality of surimi and fish balls. In this study, surimi was prepared form bighead carp in Nanwan Lake, frozen and stored. After being thawed, the surimi was processed into gels and fish balls. The dynamic rheological properties and water distribution in the surimi, the texture properties, color, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value and thawing loss of the surimi gels, and the water distribution, texture properties, color, TBARS value, cooking loss, water content, pH and sensory quality of the fish balls were determined to select the best thawing method. The results showed that microwave allowed for rapid thawing of frozen surimi, but resulted in poor elasticity and chewiness and high thawing loss. Air thawing led to low thawing loss of surimi gels, low cooking loss and high pH value of fish balls. Low-temperature thawing resulted in stable gel network structure of surimi without protein damage, good water retention and low mobility of free water. In addition, it led to moderate proportion and large peak area of free water in fish balls, with cooking loss and TBARS value of only 8.17% and 0.388 mg/kg, respectively and good texture characteristics. Both fish balls made from low-temperature and air thawed surimi had good texture characteristics, with the former having a cooking loss of 34.93% and a water content of 80.2%, which were both significantly higher than those of the other thawing treatments (P < 0.05). Thus, low-temperature thawing had little effect on the gel network structure of surimi and resulted in low water loss, and fish balls produced from the thawed surimi had good sensory quality.
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2025, Vol. 39 
