Effects of surimi incorporation on the characteristics of the pumpkin nugget

Abstract

Pumpkin or Cucurbita maxima are a kind of local vegetable product which has great nutritional and health protective values. Surimi is concentrated myofibrillar protein obtained from mechanically deboned fish flesh. Due to their unique textural properties and nutritional value, surimi has the potential to be a good source to improve the texture of pumpkin nuggets. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of surimi incorporation on the characteristics of the pumpkin nuggets. Twelve formulations was developed where's six formulations was prepared with pumpkin with rind (S) and six formulations was prepared with pumpkin without rind (W). The study includes assessment of texture, color, cooking loss during frying, diameter shrinkage and sensory evaluation using different levels of surimi incorporation which were 0% as a control nugget, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. The determination of crude protein content, oil uptake, crude fiber content and moisture content in pumpkin nuggets also were also determined. It was found that incorporation of 50% surimi made the texture firmer than control nugget. There was a significant different (p<0.05) for both S and W nugget in texture. Increased surimi also increases the color lightness of pumpkin nuggets color. The minimum changes of diameter shrinkage and cooking loss were also observed with increased surimi level. However, between same levels of surimi incorporation, there was no significant difference for diameter shrinkage and cooking loss. Besides, crude protein content and moisture content increased with increased surimi while the crude fiber content and oil uptake decreased with increase in surimi. The diameter shrinkage, cooking loss and oil uptake was lower for formulation S compared to formulation W. Formulation S had more fiber than W while moisture content in S was higher than W. The most acceptable nuggets were 50% W nugget.