Effects of Pre-salting on the Components Changes in the Preparation of Salted Anchovy (Engraulis japonica)

To investigate pre-salting conditions in the preparation of salted anchovy from large anchovy, anchovy were salted with various salt concentration and stored at $5^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$ for 10 days. Moisture content decreased with the increase of salt and the salinity increased in proportion to salt concentration at $20^{\circ}C$. Total nitrogen decreased slightly as the increase of salt concentration during pre-salting at $20^{\circ}C$. The nitrogenous components such as amino nitrogen and extractable nitrogen were invariable or decreased until 7 days in salt concentration over $25\%$ during pre-salting at $5^{\circ}C$. These results imply that soluble nitrogen with moisture run out of anchovy body in high salt concentration and the hydrolysis was inhibited by salt over $25\%$ at $5^{\circ}C$. VBN content were constant in salt concentration over $25\%$ until 7 days, regardless of curing temperature. The POV were under the influence of salt concentration and temperatures. We concluded that the optimal condition for preparation of salted anchovy were pre-salting with salt over $25\%$ at $5^{\circ}C$ for 7 days.