Texture and viscoelastic characteristics of silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) surimi affected by combination of washing regimes and hydrogen peroxide

This study aimed to apply H2O2 at different concentrations in combination with mince:water (M:W) ratios and different washing cycles (WCs) to produce surimi gel from silver carp without compromising its quality characteristics. Color, texture, microstructure, and rheological properties of surimi gels were investigated. Water holding capacity, texture profile, and gel strength showed a greater dependency on number of WCs than the M:W ratios and percentage of H2O2 (p < .05), that is, higher WCs, firmer surimi gel. Accordingly, T2 (one WC, 2% H2O2, 1:3), T10 (two WC, 1% H2O2, 1:2), and T16 (three WC, 1% H2O2, 1:2) treatments resulted the most cohesive and resilient surimi compared with the rest (p < .05), confirmed by scanning electron microscopy images. However, all treated fish mince samples with H2O2, resulted in a surimi gel with lower texture quality compared with the control surimi prepared by conventional washing process without H2O2 (p < .05). A temperature sweep test was conducted based on the linear viscoelastic region stress and frequency values and the aforementioned surimi gels exhibited an obvious valley shape pattern at temperature range of 48-62 degrees C. In the creep-recovery test, the Burgers model satisfactorily described the internal structure of the surimi gel samples as the lowest deformation belonged to the control samples followed by T2. However, after 300 s strain, neither of surimi gels were fully recovered their original shape. Altogether, further studies are needed to clarify the effects of H2O2 in reduction of WCs, without significantly affecting the textural and rheological properties of resultant surimi gel.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of H2O2 concentration, mince:water ratio, and washing cycles on the quality characteristics of surimi gel from silver carp. It was found that the number of washing cycles had a greater impact on water holding capacity, texture profile, and gel strength. Higher number of washing cycles resulted in firmer surimi gel. However, the addition of H2O2 led to lower texture quality compared to the control samples. Further research is needed to understand the effects of H2O2 on reducing washing cycles without compromising the textural and rheological properties of surimi gel.