Biochemical and Sensory Changes of Low-Salt Anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) Sauce Prepared by a Novel Technique

Using a process spanning less than 10 days, a novel technique combining two-stage autolysis and external koji fermentation for the rapid preparation of low-salt anchovy sauce is presented. High-efficiency autolysis of anchovy was achieved by two-stage autolysis, and the second-stage autolysis exhibited a significantly positive effect on the improvement of hydrolysis yield and recovery of anchovy proteins. During the external koji fermentation of hydrolysates from two-stage autolysis, the optimum amounts of added water and salt were determined to be 20% and 8.0%, respectively. By investigating the effect of fermentation time on the biochemical and sensory changes of anchovy sauce, the optimal fermentation time was 8 days. The prepared anchovy sauce had an umami taste, was rich in free glutamate, and contained taurine and γ-aminobutyric acid. In addition, it contained 0.890 g/100 mL amino acid nitrogen (AAN), 1.886 g/100 mL total nitrogen, and 9.76% NaCl. Meanwhile, the recovery of total nitrogen (RTN) was 63.89%.