Abstract:The influence of vacuum pressure and brining time on salt osmotic dehydration and quality changes of pork in vacuum pickling process were studied. The results indicated that, as the vacuum pressure and curing time increased, the quantity of salt endosmosis increased exponentially, while water content decreased and reached the equilibrium at about 6 h. The mass of pork kept rose in the vacuum brining process, and the mass-gain rate was increased significantly as the vacuum pressure increasing. Salt penetration rate decreased and the constant of salt penetration rate increased first and then decreased with the vacuum pressure increased, and reached its maximum value of 0.977 at 0.08 MPa. Vacuum pressure had slight impact on pH of the pork. Soluble protein content in salt solution had the similar change as the constant of salt penetration, which showed the highest value at 0.08 MPa. The values of brightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) were enhanced while redness (a*) reduced during the salting process. Vacuum brining could improve the tenderness of pork obviously, and the hardness, elasticity and chewiness were enhanced gradually. The resilience decreased and cohesiveness decreased after the first increases.
