Thermal gelation properties of white croaker, walleye pollack and deepsea bonefish surimi after suwari treatment at various temperatures

The effects of setting (suwari) at around 40 °C on the breaking strength and breaking strain rate of thermal gels treated at 85 °C for 20 min during the following processing step were examined in association with the polymerization and degradation of myosin heavy chains (MHCs) for surimi prepared from white croaker, walleye pollack and deepsea bonefish. In the case of white croaker and walleye pollack, maximum values of breaking strength and breaking strain rate were obtained after suwari at 30–40 °C for both 30 and 60 min, at which temperature MHCs were polymerized. In comparison, these textual properties of the thermal gels decreased in surimi prepared from deepsea bonefish after suwari at around 38 °C for 30 min and at around 32 °C for 60 min, with concomitant degradation products of MHC. The textual properties of deepsea bonefish after suwari at temperatures >45 °C tended to be almost the same as those after suwari at temperatures of <30 °C, where neither polymerization nor degradation of MHC was observed.