Development of pickle from marine mollusks and its shelf-life assessment during storage

Abstract

In the southwestern part of Bangladesh, mollusk such as oysters, blood clam, mussels and horn snails are used only for lime production. The flesh of edible blood clam (Anadara granosa) and oyster (Crassostrea madrasensis) are not utilized by the people because of lack of awareness about the rich nutritive value of the seafood products. Keeping this in mind, an attempt was made to utilize mollusk flesh as pickle and the shelf life of the pickled product developed from blood clam (A. granosa) and oyster (C. madrasensis) were assessed for a period of 3 months at ambient temperature (35-37°C). Different oils such as mustard oil, sesame oil and soybean oil were used for pickle preparation. Pickles prepared using mustard oil were selected as the best pickle on the basis of biochemical, microbiological and sensory evaluation. Trimethylamine nitrogen, total volatile base nitrogen, total plate count and sensory scores of pickles with mustard oil were significantly increased (P< 0.001) at the end of storage period though all scores were at acceptable limit. These are ready-to-eat products, and were stored for a period of 6 months for A. granosa and C. madrasensis. The cost of preparing pickle was lower than India. The pickle may be a great income source for the people of southwestern part of our country. It may also contribute to our blue economy by marketing and exporting pickles to foreign countries.