ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to investigate the drying kinetics and quality characteristics of Indian mackerel dried under solar–electrical hybrid dryer (S-EHD). Fresh Indian mackerel fishes (Rastrelliger kanagurta) were cleaned, cut into butterfly fillets, and salted overnight using a dry salting method (salt-to-fish ratio, 1:3). The salted mackerel was dried in a S-EHD at the air temperature of 45–55°C, relative humidity of 47–62%, and air velocity of 0.60–0.80 m/s. Open sun drying (OSD) of salted Indian mackerel was conducted to compare with S-EHD. The moisture content of the salted mackerel (61.5% w.b.) was reduced to 31.8% (w.b.) under S-EHD and 30.25% (w.b) under OSD in 8 and 32 h, respectively. The drying rate curve showed that mackerel drying occurred under falling-rate drying period in both the drying methods. A drying efficiency of 23.81% was observed for salted Indian mackerel drying under S-EHD. Diffusion approach and two-term models were selected to accurately predict the drying behavior of mackerel under S-EHD and OSD, respectively. Total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine, and thiobarbituric acid analysis of dried samples revealed that the mackerel dried under S-EHD was better than OSD. In the sensory analysis, samples dried under S-EHD recorded highest overall acceptability score.
Acknowledgments
Authors would like to acknowledge the director, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Kochi, for providing necessary facilities for the research work. Also, authors acknowledge staffs of Engineering Workshop, ICAR-CIFT, for their timely help and support for smooth conduct of this research work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.