Abstract:The stability of sea cucumber collagen was improved by crosslinking with natural plant extracts. These data provide a theoretical basis for sea cucumber processing. Sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus was used as the raw material. The degree of crosslinking of instant sea cucumber body wall with different treatments as well as changes in the texture, the degree of protein degradation, and the microstructure of the instant sea cucumber body walls during storage at 37 ℃ were studied. The results indicated that the elasticity of the body wall of instant sea cucumber crosslinked by Galla chinensis and Fructus chebulae extracts was significantly higher than that of the control group by 1.58 times and 1.16 times, respectively. Compared with the control group, the degree of protein degradation of the body wall of the crosslink treated instant sea cucumbers was reduced by 20~30%. The moisture content, water activity, and moisture state analysis showed that the moisture contents of Galla chinensis and Fructus chebulae treated groups were 13.12% and 16.78% lower than that of the control group, respectively. The decreasing moisture content of the instant sea cucumber helped improve its storage stability. During the storage at 37 ℃, the sensory scores of the sea cumber in crosslinking groups were twice has high as those of the control group and met the sensory requirements that were more easily accepted by consumers.
