Development of Salted Semi-dried Common Gray Mullet Mugil cephalus using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

This study examined the optimal salting drying method and processing conditions (salt concentration, curing time, dry temperature, and drying time) for preparing salted semi-dried common gray mullet (SSD-CGM) Mugil cephalus based on the moisture content, salinity, and overall acceptance using response surface methodology (RSM). The moisture content, salinity, and overall acceptance of SSD-CGM prepared with different salting methods revealed that dry salting was the optimal salting method for preparing high-quality SSD-CGM. The optimal drying method for preparing high-quality SSD-CGM based on the drying velocity and sensory color was hot air-blast drying. The results of the RSM program indicated that the optimal independent variables (X 1 , salt concentration; X 2 , curing time; X 3 , dry temperature; X 4 , drying time) based on the dependent variables (Y 1 , moisture content; Y 2 , salinity; Y 3 , overall acceptance) for high-quality SSD-CGM were 5.6% for X 1 , 2.7 h for X 2 , 47.0°C for X 3, and 8.5 h for X 4 for uncoded values. The predicted values of Y 1 , Y 2 , and Y 3 for SSD-CGM prepared under optimal conditions were 54.4%, 4.2%, and 6.3, respectively, while the experimental values were 55.2±1.0%, 4.1±0.3% and 6.7±0.8. The actual and predicted values did not differ.