As a part of our studies on the flavor components of boiled crabs, we have analyzed the extracts from the leg meat, hepatopancreas, and ovary of five species of common edible crabs in Japan for sugars, organic acids, and minerals.
Glucose was found to be the most abundant monosaccharide in these tissues. Small amounts of ribose, fructose, and arabinose were also detected, together with inositol. The main organic acids were lactic and succinic acids. Very small amounts of acetic, propionic and oxalic acids were also detected. Most of the cations were Na+ and K+. Cl- was the major anion, with somewhat lower levels of PO43-.
The sum of all the components analyzed for in the previous and present studies accounted for 92-96%, 83-89%, and 87-94% of the dry matter of the extracts of leg meat, hepatopancreas, and ovary, respectively.
- Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi is an official journal of the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science written in Japanese only.
The society publishes an English journal, Fisheries Science, as well, which accepts submissions from non-members of the society over the world. Detailed information is available in http://jsfs.jp/en/journals/fisheries-science.