Abstract
Desalination using salt water of a low concentration is called “Yobi-shio”, and many cookbooks recommend the use of salt to desalt. Analysis of sodium, potassium, magnesium, free amino acids and 5'-nucleotides was carried out after the desalination using water and NaCl solution, to clarify whether the elution of taste ingredients caused by diffusion was the only factor affecting the taste and what kinds of taste ingredients were affected during the desalination of kazunoko. Sodium and magnesium eluted at lower contents in desalination using NaCl solution than using water, but potassium was not affected. Free amino acids in the soaking solution increased with time and that of desalted kazunoko decreased. The sum of the total free amino acids in desalted kazunoko and that of the soaking solution with desalination using water after 15 hours was 1.8 times that of kazunoko, but that using 3% NaCl was not increased at all. Moreover, the contents of total free amino acids in desalted kazunoko using water after 15 hours was twice that using 3% NaCl solution. Among these free amino acids, the hydrophobic amino acids which are said to be bitter occupied 70%. These results indicate that free amino acids were produced by protease during the desalination using water.
