Alkali and acid solubilization effects on rheological properties of horse mackerel muscle proteins

Influence of the acid (Type A) and alkali (Type B) solubilization of muscle proteins in the viscoelastic properties of surimi and surimi gels made from horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) muscle were evaluated. Stress and frequency sweep tests showed that surimi from method B presents higher viscoelastic moduli, lowest values of phase angle and minimum viscoelastic moduli dependence with frequency than surimi A. These results show a high inicial protein aggregation in surimi B, that could explain the greater firmness and hardness of this sample, showing a more compact network structure. From static and dynamic tests, gel developed from alkali solubilization resulted in higher gel strength and more rigid network than that from acidic pH, despite the incial protein aggregation of surimi B its protein keeps better gelation capacity. The less structural quality of GA gel is likely due to the more lipid content on the surimi as compared to alkali treatment.