Changes in Proteins of Spanish Mackerel Meat Cured in Miso

Abstract

Misozuke of fish meat is a traditional processing and cooking where fish meat was cured in miso(fermented soybean paste) for the purpose of preserving fish and improving its eating quality. Experiments were carried out to investigate changes in texture and in constituent proteins of fish meat cured in miso. Sensory tests revealed that during the curing period, miso-cured meat became tender and more fragile. Hardness of texturometer test increased up to the 7th day and then decreased till the 21st day. SDS-PAGE patterns indicated that actomyosin extracted from the meat cured in miso was decomposed into smaller molecular size. Since the decomposition of proteias extracted from the muscle cured in cooked miso was hardly seen, most of the decom-position of proteins of miso-cured meat was presumed to be caused by enzyme of miso. This effect of enzyme in miso was confirmed by the fact that the decomposition of actomyosin and water soluble proteins of fish muscle was seen during preservation with added miso crude enzyme solution and was inhibited by the addition of proteinase inhibitors.