Various amounts of buckwheat powder (0%, 1%, 2%, and 3%) were added to
emulsion-type pork sausages. The effects of buckwheat powder on the
physicochemical characteristics of the emulsion type sausages, including
proximate composition, cooking yield, viscosity, pH, instrumental color, texture
profile analysis (TPA), and sensory evaluation, were determined. Increased
levels of added buckwheat powder led to higher moisture
(p<0.05), ash content (p<0.05 or >0.05), and
cooking yield (p<0.05). However, the protein and fat contents of the
sausage samples were lower (p<0.05) with higher levels of added buckwheat
powder. The instrumental color and pH values were affected by the addition of
buckwheat powder, which has a pH of 6.1 and associated color coordinates of
L*=75.0, a*=1.3, and b*=8.7. Meat batter with 3% buckwheat powder was shown the
highest (p<0.05) viscosity indicating great formation of emulsion. There
were no significant differences in the TPA among the treated samples. The
viscosity value increased with increasing cooking yield in the batter
(r2=0.7283) i.e. the correlation coefficient between the two
measurements was very high and positive. For sensory traits except for
tenderness, the highest scores (p<0.05) was detected on sausages with 3%
added buckwheat powder by a panel. These results suggest that the addition of 3%
buckwheat powder to emulsion-type sausages produces a more beneficial meat
product, with a lower fat content, greater formation of emulsion and no adverse
effects on sensory properties.