SUWARI AND KAMABOKO SARDINE GELS - EFFECT OF HEAT-TREATMENT ON SOLUBILITY OF NETWORKS

Suwari (set) and kamaboko (set and cooked) gels made with sardine suri mi were prepared at normal heat-setting (35 or 40 degrees C) and modor i (60 degrees C) temperatures and treated with solutions breaking ioni c bonds, hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, and disulfide bridg es. The lower gel strength of the gels obtained at modori temperature corresponded to a higher solubility of these gels in solutions breakin g hydrophobic interactions and disulfide bridges. For suwari gels set at 35 and 40 degrees C more protein was solubilized when electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonds were ruptured. SDS-PAGE showed a high er amount of actin in these two fractions. No myosin heavy chain (MHC) bands were observed in any of the fractions obtained from suwari gels heat-set at 35 and 40 degrees C. However, MHC bands were visible when disulfide bridges were disrupted in gels set at 60 degrees C and in k amaboko gels set at 35 degrees C. This means that the structure of the set gels was altered at cooking temperatures when the kamaboko networ k was formed.