Abstract
Fish meal-fish sauce, a new-type condiment like soy sauce, was prepared from fish meal instead of soybean by fermentation with koji. The fish sauce was rich in both taste derived from fish and flavor like soy sauce.
In this study, browning reaction during processing of the fish meal-fish sauce was determined. Five kinds of the fish sauces were prepared from sardine meal by 6-month fermentation with different kinds of koji. Soy sauce was also prepared for control. Color intensity of the fish sauces increased during fermentation, but was much lower than that of soy sauce. It was reported that browning of soy sauce is derived mainly from amino-carbonyl reaction between amino compounds and reducing sugar. However, reducing sugar amount varied among five fish sauces and was not related with color intensity. Amino acid and amino compound levels in the fish sauces were lower than those in soy sauce. Polyphenol oxidase activity and polyphenol compound level were also lower in the fish sauces than in soy sauce. In addition, iron content in the fish sauces was lower than that in soy sauce. These results demondstrate that color intensity of the fish meal-fish sauce was lower than that of soy sauce due to lower levels of amino acids, amino compounds, polyphenol oxidase activity, polyphenol compounds, and iron.
