Free amino acids profile and quantities of 'sırt', 'bohca' and 'sekerpare' pastirma, dry cured meat products.

BACKGROUND

Pastirma is a dry-cured and semi-fermented meat product, produced from whole beef or water buffalo muscles. Sixteen to twenty different types of pastirma can be produced from a carcass, and each pastirma type has a different name, shape and quality characteristics. The objective of this study was to determine the free amino acid (FAA) composition, pH and moisture values of 'sırt', 'bohca' and 'sekerpare' pastirma.

RESULTS

Significant differences were determined among the pastirma types in glutamic acid (P<0.05), threonine (P<0.05), arginine (P<0.05), alanine (P<0.01), methionine (P<0.01), tryptophan (P<0.05), proline (P<0.01) and valine (P<0.01). Threonine, methionine and valine were higher in sırt pastirma than the others; glutamic acid, arginine and tryptophan were higher in sekerpare pastirma. The predominant FAA in the all pastirma samples was alanine, while the lowest was asparagine. The highest mean pH was in sırt pastirma, and the lowest mean pH in bohca pastirma. There was no significant difference in mean moisture values among pastirma types.

CONCLUSION

Significant differences were determined among pastirma types in some FAA. Analysis results indicated that quality and nutritional properties for different pastirma types are different. The most advantageous pastirma types in terms of FAA were bohca and sırt, which contain the highest quantity of threonine, methionine and valine.