Abstract:This experiment focused on the carcass muscle of squid to study the effects of four thawing methods, including high voltage static electric field thawing (4 ℃, 3.8 kV), static water thawing, flowing water thawing, and thawing in room temperature air, on the quality characteristics of squid muscle. The effects of different thawing methods on the thawing rate, thawing loss rate, cooking loss rate, pH, color, water content, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), texture characteristics, total viable count (TVC), and other indices were analyzed on muscle quality. The results showed that the muscle quality of squid thawed by high-voltage electrostatic field was better than the other three methods. The thawing rate was 2.89 ℃/min, and the whiteness value was 24.21. Water content was 67.44 g/hg, and TVB-N was 2.76 mg/hg. The total number of colonies was 2.74 lg(CFU/g). Additionally, the thawing loss rate, and cooking loss rate were lower. This method could reduce the loss of muscle juice during thawing, and delay the decline of muscle pH levels, consequently preventing an increase in muscle acidity, and also inhibit the growth of microorganisms. However, the squid thawed by high-voltage electrostatic field had a higher moisture mass fraction but a shorter shelf life.
