Development of Intermediate Foodstuff Derived from Freshwater Fish in China

According to the three-dimensional contour maps showing the gel-forming properties of surimi derived from freshwater fish, 8 species of surimi were classified into two types. The V-valley type surimi (silver carp, big-head carp, Chinese snake head and blunt snout bream) shows easy setting, low resistance to gel collapse, high enhancement ability with two-step heating, and narrow optimum heating temperature and time area, which are of the same characteristics as the wall-eye pollack surimi. In contrast, the Plateau type surimi (tilapia, grass carp, mud carp and common carp) exhibits difficult setting, high resistance to gel collapse, no enhancement ability with two-step heating, and wide optimum heating temperature and time area. There are seasonal changes of gelling properties of silver carp surimi, and the setting ability of surimi gel is higher in winter and lower in summer. The marine fish meat gels and the freshwater fish meat gels have the same acceptability for inland Chinese according to the sensory evaluation results. A slight increase in sensory scorings of kamaboko gels occurred when the extract from walleye pollack muscle was added, especially in the odor scoring of silver carp kamaboko gels.