Abstract:Bird's nest, a traditional health food with rich nutritional value, has received little research attention regarding the effect of heat treatment temperature on its product quality. In this study, the bird's nest imported through Chinese customs was used as raw material. The fresh stewed bird's nest products were prepared through heat treatments at different temperatures. The microbial indicators, in vitro digestion rate of protein and sialic acid, and sensory properties of edible bird’s nest (EBN) products were investigated. The results indicated that EBN products showed commercial sterility during one month of storage after sterilized for 30 min at 110 ℃ and above. The results of in vitro simulated digestion revealed that sialic acid release rate of EBN increased significantly with the increase of temperature, reaching 90.19% at 120 ℃, significantly higher than that achieved from stewing at 100 ℃(P＜0.05), which was 46.22%. There was no significant difference between EBN treated at 115 ℃ and 120 ℃ (P＞0.05). Quantitative descriptive sensory analysis indicated that EBN stewed at 110 ℃ and 115 ℃ exhibited moderate hardness, smoothness, chewiness, elasticity, and egg white flavor with appropriate intensity. However, further increasing the temperature to 120 ℃ caused sensory quality deterioration. Overall, EBN stewed at 115 ℃ for 30 min could provide the optimal heat treatment parameters, ensuring safety, nutrition, and sensory quality.
