"Surimi" itself is not a food; it is an intermediate phase of the production of "kamaboko"(a gel formed by the addition of salt to the surimi and direct heating to 80-90ºC) and a series of high-priced shellfish analogs. The protective effect that two cryoprotectant mixtures exerted during freezing and frozen storage of frozen surimi of surubí (Pseudoplatystoma coruscans) on the functional quality of the gels prepared was studied. The selected washing conditions selected to obtain an acceptable functional quality of gels prepared from frozen surimi (25% extracted proteins and of final moisture) using the response surface methodology were wash temperature, 18ºC; washing time for each of the three washing cycles, 4.62 min. and water-mince ratio, 3.5:1. Cryoprotectant mixtures used were sucrose/sorbitol (1:1) and maltodextrin/sorbitol (1:1) and they were added (8%) to the washed and drained minced fish before freezing. To evaluate the functionality of the frozen surimi during six months of storage, the penetration test to measure the gel strength was chosen; samples were assessed at 4, 45, 90 and 180 days of frozen storage. Results showed that even with the cryoprotectants freezing decreased gel strength, since it produced a decrease of almost 32% in the strength of the gel prepared with fresh surimi. However, the two cryoprotectant mixtures tested showed very good behaviour throughout frozen storage; specially at 45 and 90 days of storage the surimi gels with the sucrose/sorbitol mixture had a greater resistance than those with maltodextrin/sorbitol.
gel strength; frozen storage of surimi; protein functionality; surubí surimi and cryoprotectant
