BACKGROUND Among various cooking methods, steaming is favored by many because it can cause less damage to nutrient components in muscle, retain the inherent food flavor, and reduce the generation of harmful substances. Steaming conditions are closely related to fish flavor, fat and protein oxidation, and digestibility. RESULTS The black carp steamed for 4 to 14 min was studied in this article based on sensory assessment, electronic tongue, free amino acids, adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐related compounds, total nitrogen and non‐protein nitrogen to explore the effect of steaming time on the taste substances and protein degradation of pickled black carp. The experimental result showed that the meat steamed within 8 min tasted better, showing high tastiness. The sensory assessment score increased significantly to the maximum value of 82.33 at 6 min. The content of umami and sweet amino acids increased significantly to the maximum value of 1.6801 g kg–1 at 6 min. In the meantime, the IMP (inosine monophosphate) content was 1.9128 g kg–1, with its taste activity value (TAV) reaching 7.65, which proved that IMP affected the taste most. Furthermore, the total nitrogen content was 30.77 g kg–1, which meant protein degraded a great deal. Based on equivalent umami concentration (EUC) and its TAV, the meat tasted best at 6–8 min. The longer the steaming time, the faster the protein degradation and the more the flavor precursors. CONCLUSION The black carp pickled products (with a weight of 20 g, with the size of 3 cm × 3 cm × 2 cm) is suggested to be steamed for 6 to 8 min. This conclusion provides a theoretical basis for its better taste quality. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

The research on the quality changes of grass carp during brine salting with 6%, 8%, and 10% salt additions was evaluated by chemical and physical indicators, as well as a sensory assessment and microbiological analysis. The NaCl content was proportional to salt addition and salting time. The increase of salt addition could lead to the increase of hardness and chewiness in which change trends were contrary to the pH within 24 hr. All K values were less than 10% during brine salting. The effect of 8% salt additions on free amino acids was relatively smaller. Higher levels of salt additions could inhibit bacterial growth. Combined with sensory assessment, equivalent umami concentration (EUC), and taste activity value (TAV) to analysis comprehensively, it was suggested that grass carp meat should be eaten at 4–8 hr of brine salting with 8% salt additions or processed for the next step, in which the grass carp meat had a better taste and quality.

The study aims to obtain the information on taste and odor among different edible parts (white dorsal meat, white abdomen meat, white tail meat, and dark meat) of bighead carp. The results showed that the white dorsal meat and white abdomen meat had the higher content of total amino acids among all edible parts of bighead carp samples. The highest inosine monophosphate and adenosine monophosphate How to cite this article:

In this study, black carp was chosen as the subject. Effects of moisture content, hardness, color, microstructure, amino nitrogen content, ATP‐related compounds, free amino acids, and equivalent umami concentration changes of black carp during hot air drying (HD) and vacuum drying (VD) process were studied. Results showed that the b* and hardness increased with the drying time extended and VD could effectively delay it. Whiteness, amino nitrogen content, ATP‐related compounds, free amino acids, and equivalent umami concentration increased at first and decreased when arriving at a certain time. In HD, substances like protein and fat change more dramatically. In conclusion, color and hardness of VD are better than that of HD and microstructure was less damaged, but HD can obtain more umami substances. Practical applications As an effective method of food processing and preserving, drying not only improve the quality of the product, but also extend the shelf life. The reasonable drying will give food seductive color and unique flavor. The quality changes of black carp during drying for 12 hr were studied by measuring moisture, hardness, color, microstructure, nonvolatile taste compounds, and equivalent umami concentration. These results will provide benefit information for the quality control of black carp during the drying process.

Background: Enzyme injection is vital for improving the sensory attributes and processing characteristics of meat products by enhancing proteolysis. However, studies regarding the appropriate dose addition for accelerating protein degradation in grass carp are minimal. This study aimed to investigate the impact of Flavourzyme® on the flavor quality and antioxidant activity of salted grass carp via brine injection and brining.Results: Flavourzyme was added at doses of 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 leucine aminopeptidase units (LAPU) per kilogram of raw meat. The results indicated that adding Flavourzyme promoted proteolysis, which was reflected by the enhanced total free amino acid content (from 3.7414 g kg −1 to 4.9160 g kg −1 in the brining group and from 3.8039 g kg −1 to 5.4061 g kg −1 in the injection group) and a decrease in salt soluble and insoluble protein (P < 0.05). The antioxidant activity was improved, and the thiobarbituric acid reactive substance value in salted carp decreased due to the higher content of the protein hydrolysis product (P < 0.05). All sensory attributes were improved significantly, especially when using brine injection (P < 0.05). Brine injection was helpful to diffuse the Flavourzyme, resulting in stronger proteolysis. Conclusion:The appropriate Flavourzyme dose was 10 LAPU kg −1 in the injection group and 20 LAPU kg −1 in the brining group. Therefore, moderate Flavourzyme addition was excellent in improving sensory attributes and storage characteristics, whereas injection represented a novel method to obtain a similar fish meat quality in a shorter time and with less added Flavourzyme.

The dried black carp was studied based on moisture content, color, aerobic plate count (APC), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB‐N), peroxide value (POV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), fatty acids, free amino acids, and nucleotides to explore the physicochemical properties changes. After drying for 12 hr, moisture content dropped to 42.53% and color changed obviously. L* value decreased and a* and b* values increased. APC and TVB‐N results indicated fillets had high food safety. POV and TBA both were on the rise in fillets, reaching the maximum values of 0.08 mg/100 g and 2.33 mg MDA/kg, respectively. Monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were oxidized and decomposed, which led to the increase of saturated fatty acids absolute content. From the results of equivalent umami concentration, fillets reached the maximum value of 9.04 g MSG/100 g. The longer the drying time, the worse the taste quality in products. Practical applications In order to investigate the quality changes of black carp during drying, physical properties, lipid oxidation, and nonvolatile flavor substances were analyzed. From this article, it can be found that during the process of drying, the black carp was in a safe state. The results of this article provided theoretical and technical support for black carp.

The back cover image is based on the Original Article The impact of Flavourzyme on flavor, antioxidant activity and sensory attributes of salted grass carp by brine injection and brining by Shi Wenzheng et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.11506.

With the development of plasma-activated water (PAW) technology, its applications in the fields of food, agriculture, and biomedicine are becoming increasingly widespread. PAW has sterilization, pesticide residue reduction, anti-cancer, and blood clotting functions. Traditional methods for pesticide degradation include home processing, baking and freeze-drying, and UV treatment; however, they generally suffer from poor degradation efficiency and adverse effects on fruit quality. This study found that PAW treatment is a green and efficient environmental technology with the advantages of simple operation, good treatment effect, and no secondary pollution. This paper investigated the efficiency of PAW on the reduction of two acaricides, namely, bifenazate and spirodiclofen, and the effect of PAW treatment on the quality of Cuimi kumquat. The results showed that after PAW treatment, the residual amounts of bifenazate and spirodiclofen were reduced to a minimum of 1.19 mg·kg−1 and 0.23 mg·kg−1, with a reduction of 74.35% and 59.37% respectively compared to the control. Moreover, PAW treatment did not have any negative effects on the storage quality of Cuimi kumquat.