Studies on the water-holding capacity of kamaboko - III. Classification of the existing state of water in kamaboko by expressing, absorbing, and thermogravimetric methods.

Abstract

The existing state of water in kamaboko was investigated by expressing, absorbing, and thermo-gravimetric methods. Kamaboko specimens were pressed between filter papers at 50kg/cm2. Two break points were found on the curve, which represents the relation between the amount of the expressible water and the expressing time. The result indicates that the existing state of water in kamaboko can be classified into three categories, types Ip, IIp and IIIp. The type Ip water was sque-ezed out rapidly, the type IIp water slowly, and the type IIIp water hardly. Amounts of types Ip, IIp and IIIp water coincided roughly with those of It, IIt and IIIt classified by thermogravimetry. On the other hand, kamaboko specimens sandwiched between absorbing papers were vacuum-packed. One break point was found in the curve, which represents the relation between the amount of the absorbable water and abosorbing time. Water in kamaboko was classified in two states, the type Ia absorbed to the paper easily and the IIa absorbed hardly. The amount of Ia was approxi-mated with that of Ip, and that of IIa with that of IIp plus IIIp. The relative amounts of the Ip, IIp and IIIp on the dry base were measured for the three kinds of kamaboko differing the in amount of added water. The amounts of IIp plus IIIp of all kamaboko tested, were mostly the same. In contrast, the amount of Ip increased markedly with an increase in that of the added water. The type Ip, pro-bably regarded as “bulk phase water”, was thus considered to largely contribute to the texture or wateriness of kamaboko.