Studies on the water-holding capacity of Kamaboko. VI. Effects of setting incubation on the water-holding capacity of salt-ground fish meat and its heated gel.

Existing states of water in salt-ground surimi and its kamaboko gel were investigated in rela-tion to gel-strength and surface hydrophobicity. The salt-ground surimi of Alaska pollack was incubated at 0, 10, and 30°C for a fixed time and then heated at 90°C to produce the final gel, kama-boko. The gel-strength of kamaboko increased more or less by the incubation before heating. During storage in a vacuum-packed condition the water-release from kamaboko produced with incubation was more remarkable than that without incubation. The amounts of absorbable from the incubated surimi and its kamaboko gel into a filter paper were more than those from the nonincubated. Also, more amounts of easily mobile water were determined by the expressing method existed in the incubated surimi and its kamaboko gel. Surface hydrophobicity of the surimi measured for relative fluorescence intensity increased during the incubation at 10°C and 30°C and the subsequent heating at 90°C. This increase in the surface hydrophobicity during incubation is considered to have a close relation to an increase of easily mobile water content in the in-cubated salt-ground surimi and its heated gel, “suwari kamaboko”.