Journal of Experimental Food Chemistry

Relationship between the Physical Properties and Perceived Saltiness of Various Surimi Gels Prepared by Different Setting Conditions

Abstract

Tran Thi My Hanh,Kaoru Kohyama,Natsuki Watanabe,Kazufumi Osako,Emiko Okazaki*

Salt intake is an important concern for health reasons and saltiness is affected not only by content of food, but also by the texture. Surimi-based products, such as kamaboko, are elastic gels with approximately 2% NaCl; despite recent concerns among Japanese consumers regarding high-salt foods, little is known about the relationship between saltiness and texture in these products. This study was aimed to clarify the relationship between saltiness and texture using heat-induced surimi gels as a model of surimi-based product. Various types of heat-induced gels with different physical properties were prepared from surimi and washed surimi by two-step heating with different setting (preheating) times at 30°C. Washed surimi was prepared to remove the additives, because the additives were thought to affect the taste of surimi gel. The physical properties of heat-induced gels were characterized by puncture breaking strength and expressible water. The perceived saltiness of the heat-induced surimi gels was evaluated with fixed number of chewing. Next, to improve the demerit of this method, the perceived saltiness of the washed surimi gels was evaluated by free chewing conditions. The perceived saltiness after fixed number of chewing and the maximum saltiness intensity during free chewing was evaluated using sensory tests by comparisons with salt solutions of known concentrations. The physical properties of heat-induced gels differed considerably depending on the salt content and heating conditions. A longer setting time was associated with a higher breaking force and lower expressible water, regardless of salt content. On the other hand, perceived saltiness depended on the NaCl concentration, but not greatly influenced by the physical properties of the gels prepared from both surimi and washed surimi. The perceived saltiness of all gels tested was less than 1/3 of solution with the same NaCl concentration. The maximum saltiness intensity did not correlate with breaking force, breaking strain and expressible water of heat-induced gels. From these results, it was suggested that the difference in physical properties derived by setting did not affect the relative saltiness intensity of gels to NaCl solution during consumption of surimi gels.