Abstract

Xin Gao, Zhaohui Zhang, Lianfeng Liu and Qian Liu

Changes in tissue structure, weight, volume and rheological properties of sea cucumber meat were studied. Sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus was heated at 70°C for 1, 2, 6, 10 and 24 h, respectively. Microscopic photograph revealed that the structure has significant changed. When heated from 1 to 24 h. The weight, volume, rupture strength, and elastic moduli of sea cucumber meat decreased greatly, but the relaxation time and viscosity showed positive correlation with heating time. These results confirmed that the change of texture and rheological properties of Sea cucumber meat was mainly due to thermal denaturation and gelatinization of collagen during heating.