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Effects of fish species on the characteristics of fish cracker.

2015; University of Putra Malaysia; Volume: 22; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

2231-7546

Thammarat Kaewmanee, Taewee Karrila, Soottawat Benjakul,

Protein Hydrolysis and Bioactive Peptides

Fish cracker (Thai name: Khao Kieb Pla, also widely known as Keropok) is a popular snack in Thailand and other ASEAN countries. The main ingredients for making fish cracker are tapioca flour, fish meat, and some seasonings. The types of fish used could affect the cracker characteristics. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of fish type on physical, textural, microstructure and sensory properties of cracker. The characteristics of cracker gel (CG), half-finished cracker (HFC) and puffed cracker (PC) prepared from 6 fish species, namely Thunnus tonggol, Decapterus maruadsi, Sardinella gibbosa, Trichiurus lepturus, Priacanthus tayenus, and Nemipterus hexodon, were compared. The CG and PC samples varied in colour and texture. The lowest lightness (L * ) and highest redness (a * ), in both CG and PC, were found with T. tonggol (p< 0.05), while the highest yellowness (b * ) was obtained with D. maruadsi. The CG made with T. lepturus, P. tayenusor N. hexodon showed lower hardness, springiness and cohesiveness than with the other fish species ( p< 0.05). The pasting behaviors of HFC varied with fish species, and a high linear expansion with a low hardness of PC were obtained in samples with fishes that have a low lipid content. The PC from T. tonggol had low oil absorption while the other fishes gave absorptions similar to each other. Confocal laser scanning micrographs indicated released lipids in CG made with fatty fish. Scanning electron micrographs revealed that the lean fish gave porous puffed products, with comparatively thinwalled pores in the cracker relative to PC from fatty fish. This study demonstrated that fish type affects important characteristics of cracker. Therefore, the quality control of fish cracker will necessarily involve also control of the raw materials, and in particular screening of the fish species.