Impact of steaming and peeling on the weight loss in blue swimming crabs in Pangkajene Islands, South Sulawesi

Abstract

Abstract The blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) is an important fishery resource in Indonesia because it has a high value and involves a lot of human resources. The pasteurized crab goes through several main stages, namely steaming, stripping, and canning. Steamed crabs will experience weight loss and produce a yield of meat in a certain amount and composition after peeling. This study aims to determine the weight loss during crab steaming and stripping processes on different sizes of crabs. The crabs were classified into three categories, namely small crab (carapace width <10 cm), big crab (carapace width >10 cm), and egg-berried female crabs. Technically, crabs were steamed for 20 minutes after the water boils with temperature of steaming of 80–90 °C. Steaming process wereallowed to stand for 60 minutes, followed by. peeling process where crab meat were separated from the skin. Weight measurements were taken on fresh, warm (shortly after steaming), and cooked crab (adjusted to room temperature) to calculate weight loss due to steaming while considering temperature adjustments and total loss. Results revealed the weight decrease about 16.75% during steaming, 19.61% during relaxation, and 27.47% during overall process. The highest meat yield was obtained from small crab by 30.64%, followed by large crab by 27.25%, and egg berried female by 24.39%.