Effects of Heating Conditions on Gel Properties of Horse Mackerel Surimi

Effects of heating conditions,including setting temperature,setting time and heating method on the gel properties were investigated by texture analysis and determinations of whiteness,water-holding capacity,microstructure,TCA-soluble peptides content,protein solubility.Results showed that heating temperature,time and method all had a significant effect on the gel properties of horse mackerel surimi.The optimum condition for processing horse-mackerel surimi was a two-step heating method with setting at 30 ℃ for 5 h(or at 40 ℃ for 4 h) and then heating at 90 ℃ for 20 min,which resulted in the formation of high compacted and uniformed three dimensional network structure observed under scanning electronic microscopy(SEM).Horsen mackerel surimi gel showed a structure with aggregates of sparse packed spherical proteins,arranged in clusters when setting at 50-70 ℃,which indicated the modori phenomena occurred.