Changes of proximate composition and extractive components in narezushi, a fermented mackerel product, during processing

ABSTRACT:  During the processing of mackerel narezushi, the fish body was strongly dehydrated by permeation of salt, the low pH of fish meat, and pressure applied to the fish and rice mixture. In the proximate components, moisture, protein and lipid flowed out from the fish meat into the rice mixture, and sugar permeated from the rice mixture into the fish meat. That the total amount of outflow was larger than that of permeation into the fish is thought to contribute to the decrease in fish body weight during processing. In the extractive components, although the nucleotides completely decomposed, free amino acids and peptides increased remarkably because of the decomposition of proteins in fish meat during processing. Especially, six kinds of free amino acid, Glu, Asp, Gly, Ala, Leu, and Ile, which are thought to be the taste components in marine resources, increased. Organic acid increased remarkably because of the fermentation of rice and permeation into the fish meat. The marked increase of the extractive components is thought to contribute to the umami taste and the sour taste of narezushi.