Assessing the Quality of Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) cured with Garcinia cambogia, Phyllanthus emblica and Averrhoa bilimbi.

Abstract

Fish curing is one of the best methods to preserve the fish by means of reducing free water content and creating a medium unfavorable for microbial proliferation. The present study was designed to introduce new curing compounds; Amla (Phyllanthus emblica) and Bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi) to prepare the cured fish products, locally called Ambulthiyal. Both compounds have higher availability and high medicinal value. Amla has histidine decarboxylase inhibitory compounds that affect reducing histamine production. Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), locally called as Balaya were purchased (n=3) from the Dondra fishery harbor, cut into pieces (1 inch3) separately, and cured with the proportion; 8: 1: 0.24: 0.24: 2 of fish: curing compound: salt: pepper: water to make the triplicates. Sensory analysis, pH determination, and proximate composition (moisture, protein, fat, ash) were done to evaluate the quality of cured fish. For the sensory evaluation, appearance, color, odour, texture, flavor, and overall acceptability were tested with a 5-point Hedonic scale. Proximate analysis and pH determination were carried out after one day and one week of curing separately. The results of the sensory analysis carried out by 30 panelists after one day of curing indicated a higher Hedonic value (4.53±0.73) to the overall acceptability of the sample cured with Bilimbi. The moisture content of cured fish samples was lower than the raw fish samples. The lowest moisture content (53.80%±3.66) was observed in the fish samples cured with Garcinia on the seventh day of curing. The fish samples cured with Amla showed significantly higher (p<0.05) moisture content than those cured with Bilimbi. The fish samples cured with Bilimbi had significantly higher (p<0.05) lipid content (8.93±9.26) after one week of curing over the other fish samples. Raw fish samples of Katsuwonus pelamis had higher amounts of crude protein (20.66±0.27) than the other cured samples. The fish samples cured with Garcinia had significantly (p<0.05) higher crude protein content (17.15±0.087) after one week of curing than the fish samples cured with Amla and Bilimbi. The ash percentage (13.00±0.59%) of raw fish samples was higher than the cured fish samples after one week of curing. The pH of the raw fish samples was higher (8.06±0.04) than that of the cured samples. Present findings help recommend that Phyllanthus emblica (Amla) and Averrhoa Bilimbi (Bilimbi) can be used as fish curing compounds.