Yingqiang Wang

Trends in Processing Technologies for Dried Aquatic Products

Fresh aquatic products are rich in nutritional compounds and are an important source of good protein for humans. Dehydration processing technologies of aquatic products used in practice are a mix of old and new technologies. With the rapid development of drying technologies and steadily increasing living standards, drying processing techniques as well as types of products produced have changed fundamentally. Two broad types of dried aquatic products are commercially available on a large scale: traditional products and snack foods. In this article, the development of dried aquatic product processing technologies will be expounded along with an overview of the necessary quality attributes and control strategies to produce high-quality dried products of aquatic origin.

Effects of Different Drying Methods on the Quality of Squid Cubes

The effects of three different drying methods (e.g., intermediate infrared-assisted convection drying, low-frequency (915 MHz) microwave drying, and hot-air drying) on the quality of squid cubes were investigated. The quality parameters used to evaluate the drying efficiency were color, shrinkage, rehydration ratio, and hardness of the final dried products. The results showed that intermediate infrared-assisted convection drying and low-frequency microwave drying have the advantages over hot-air drying in terms of drying rate, shrinkage percentage, and rehydration ratio. Low-frequency microwave-dried samples displayed a puffed structure and their hardness was the highest. The intermediate-wave infrared-assisted convection drying, at 60°C, was identified as the best method for squid-cube drying in this study.

Drying and Quality Characteristics of Shredded Squid in an Infrared-Assisted Convective Dryer

Drying is one of the most common methods for processing and preserving squids. A novel forced convective dryer based on infrared heating was developed with an online temperature control. By setting the drying medium temperature of 50°C, we studied the effects of infrared wavelength and air velocity on drying characteristics of the shredded squid and qualities of dried squid products. We also compared it with the conventional hot-air drying (HAD) and advanced microwave vacuum drying (MVD). The infrared heating rate increase was faster than that of HAD. The heating and drying at the wavelength of 2.5–3.0 µm were more effective than those at the infrared wavelength of 5.0–6.0 µm. Specific energy consumption linearly increased with the air velocity. Microstructure observation showed that the infrared-dried rehydrated sample displayed a muscle fiber structure similar to the fresh sample. The infrared-dried squids had less drying shrinkage, brighter color, and better rehydration capacity than HAD products. Their sensory qualities were better than HAD and MVD products. Above all, infrared drying with wavelength of 2.5–3.0 µm and air velocity of 0.5 m/s was suggested as the best drying condition for squids in this study.

Textural and Sensory Properties of Herring (Clupea harengus) Cubes in Chinese-Type Paste as Affected by Prefrying Methods

The aim of this study was to determine the textural and sensory properties of herring (Clupea harengus) cubes prefried by deep frying (DF), mild frying (MF), and vacuum frying (VF) in Chinese-type pastes stored for 25 days at 13–15°C. Three groups of fish cubes in every Chinese-type paste were compared for texture, physical, and sensory properties by carrying out texture profile analysis (TPA), moisture content, color, and sensory analyses; and two types of Chinese-type pastes were investigated, oily Paste (A) and light Paste (B). The results showed that L* of fish cubes decreased significantly (p < 0.05), and a* and b* increased significantly (p < 0.05) in two kinds of Chinese-type pastes. Fish cubes prefried by DF and MF had higher sensory scores in Chinese-type Paste A, while those prefried by DF and VF had higher sensory scores in Chinese-type Paste B.

Drying Kinetics and Quality Characteristics of Slightly Salted Grass Carp Fillets by Hot Air Drying and Vacuum Microwave Drying

Salted grass carp fillets were dried by hot air drying (HD, at 35 and 45°C) and vacuum microwave drying (VMD, at 1, 4, and 7 W/g) to a final moisture content. Compared with hot air drying, the vacuum microwave drying greatly reduced drying time. The rehydration rate constant of salted grass carp fillets dried by microwave vacuum drying at 7-W/g microwave intensity was significantly higher than that of the hot air drying at 35 and 45°C. Compared with hot air drying, the vacuum microwave dried samples had a higher crude fat content (dry basis). The lightness of the samples dried by vacuum microwave drying was higher, and the yellowness was lower than those dried by hot air drying. The drying methods had no significant effect on the hardness and springiness.