The interaction of starch-gums and their effect on gel properties and protein conformation of silver carp surimi

The effects of single hydroxypropylated cassava starch (HCS), curdlan (CD) or κ-carrageenan (KC) or their combination (HCK) on gel and texture properties, soluble protein content, protein conformation, microstructure and sensory property of silver carp surimi were investigated. Gums increased the peak viscosity and decreased the pasting temperature of HCS. The addition of HCS and/or gums could improve the gel strength, texture properties, water holding capacity (WHC) and whiteness of surimi. Moreover, the increase range in HCK group was the most significant. Starch and/or gums increased hydrophobic interactions and disulfide bonds contents in surimi. According to Raman spectroscopy results, gums promoted the conformational transition of surimi protein from α-helix to other three secondary structures, whereas HCS had little effect on surimi protein conformation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photographs showed HCK group had the most compact and ordered network structure. The appearance, color, texture and overall likeness score were significantly increased, whereas odor and taste likeness score were not affected when starch and/or gums was added. Therefore, starch or gums could effectively improve the quality of surimi products, and their combination had more obvious effect.