抄録
Cockle is popular in sushi bars and restaurants, the purple-gray color of the cockle's edible part being a characteristic feature as well as its taste and unique texture. Raw shellfish are generally preferred to cooked ones in Japan, although, raw cockle is not often eaten as sashimi and sushi. The reasons why cockle is blanched and then frozen are that it has unstable color pigments and is difficult to keep freshness.
In this study, we stored raw cockle at low temperature(4°C)when wrapped in a humidity stabilizing sheet containing glycerol, pulp and an absorbing polymer and examined the quality change during storage. The raw sample wrapped in the humidity stabilizing sheet lost weight during storage because of dehydration. Additionally, the surface of the sample increased in toughness and decreased in chewability. The sample stored without wrapping soon decolorized and became faded. Changes in the average amount of ATP and its related compounds and in the freshness indices indicate that the storage wrapped in the sheet were superior to that without wrapping. Sensory tests also show that storage while wrapped kept the sample's fresh appearance for a longer time than without wrapping.
