Abstract:

The present study aimed to establish an enzymatic hydrolysis process for the preparation of white shrimp head hydrolysate with high degree of hydrolysis. A mixture consisting of Flavourzyme and neutral protease (F + NP) exhibited the highest degree of hydrolysis among pairwise combinations of alkaline protease, Flavourzyme and neutral protease or each of them, and therefore this mixture was selected for the further investigation: optimizing the F + NP-catalyzed hydrolysis process of white shrimp head using single factor method and quadratic orthogonal rotation combination design combined with response surface methodology. Results showed that the optimal hydrolysis process was based on F + NP (1:1, U/U)-catalyzed reaction for 3.97 h at 54.27 ℃ and pH 7.33 with 2:1 solid/liquid ratio and 2000 U/g protein enzyme dose. In comparison with white shrimp head, its hydrolysate obtained using this process exhibited significantly higher contents of flavor amino acids, thus having excellent flavor and being a potential flavoring material.

Key words: white shrimp Penaeus vannamei head, hydrolysis, amino acid, flavor