A quicker freeze-dry technique used to process salmon cubes could potentially be applied to add value to meat components considered to be less appealing, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researcher.
The new freeze-dry method, which requires less energy and processing time, was developed by scientists at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF) in collaboration with Peter Bechtel, a food technologist at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Subarctic Agricultural Research Unit (SARU) in Kodiak, Alaska. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.
One of the goals of the study was to set up a process that would produce freeze-dried cubes with less than 10 percent moisture, according to Chuck Crapo, seafood technology specialist with the UAF Marine Advisory Program. This was achieved by manipulating temperature and time.
Scientists created a process that took only nine hours by raising the temperature from minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Traditional processing can take 20 hours or more.
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