Effect of processing method on quality, texture, collagen and amino acid composition of sandfish (Holothuria scabra)

- Salting method affected texture and composition of sandfish bêche-de mer (BDM).
- BDM collagen content decreased and firmness increased with increasing brine strength.
- Major amino acids in sandfish BDM were glycine, glutamic acid, proline and arginine.
- Textural properties of BDM can be improved by more appropriate processing methods.

Textural properties and collagen and amino acid contents of fresh (raw) and processed sea cucumbers (sandfish, Holothuria scabra) were compared. Several processing procedures using different salting methods (brine and kench salting) were tested, and the resulting processed products (bêche-de-mer, BDM) were compared with partially processed tissue and BDM processed without salting and by smoke drying. Weight and length based recovery rates did not differ significantly across salting treatments or from the non-salted control treatment. There was a general trend of decreasing collagen content with increasing brine strength in the brining treatments, and sequential increases in the force required to shear reconstituted BDM processed with increasing brine strength. This has implication for BDM processing because the quality of reconstituted BDM is judged primarily by texture, not flavor, with softness and elasticity being of prime importance. BDM from most treatments was significantly less firm than cooked, partially processed tissue. The most abundant protein-bound amino acids in sandfish BDM were glycine, glutamic acid, proline, arginine, aspartic acid, alanine and hydroxyproline, but their levels did not vary significantly across treatments. Our results provide a basis for improvements to sandfish processing that optimize textural properties of resulting BDM.