Abstract
The mantle of frozen-thawed cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) was studied with respect to the change of firmness and structure by heating in boiling water. The mantle muscle was softened by heating according to the shear force value as measured by a rheometer. While an optical microscopic examination indicated that spaces between the muscle cells had been formed by heating, no such spaces were observed by transmission electron microscopy. Thus, the formation of these spaces would have been artificial and caused by heat-induced weakening of the bonding between muscle cells. Additionally, gelatinization rate of the mantle collagen was increased by about 32% after 60 min of heating.
These results show that softening of the cuttlefish mantle by heating was caused by partial gelatinization of collagen between the muscle cells, in addition to their disruption.
