Detailed Explanation of the Production Process for Fermented Shiitake Mushroom Sausage

In the course of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in our country, people's demands for food, especially meat products, are becoming higher and higher. They require not only good taste but also nutritional and health-care functions. Therefore, traditional sausages are being challenged, and the task of developing functional specialty sausages that the public needs is placed before us. Because shiitake mushrooms have unique physiological functions such as delicious taste, rich nutrition and high fiber content, they have relatively high medicinal value. With shiitake mushrooms and other ingredients as the main raw materials, fermentation by lactic acid bacteria gives shiitake mushroom sausage both nutritional and health-care functions.

1. Raw materials, equipment and methods

(1) Raw materials: fresh shiitake mushrooms, fresh pork, small intestine casings, salt, monosodium glutamate, ginger powder, five-spice powder, sucrose, ascorbic acid, red yeast rice powder, starch, etc., all food grade and commercially available.

The starter cultures are Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.

The lactic acid bacteria culture medium is fresh soy milk (5% solids), 2% whole milk powder and 5% sucrose, sterilized at 100°C for 10 min.

(2) Main equipment: meat grinder, bowl chopper, ultra-clean workbench, constant-temperature incubator, baking oven, cooking pot, water activity meter, acidity meter, etc.

(3) Analytical determination methods: the determination of pH value, moisture, salt, protein and fat shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of GB/T9695.5-88, GB/T9695.15-88, GB5009.42-94, GB5009.5-94 and GB5009.6-94; the aw value shall be determined with a water activity meter.

The determination of total bacterial count, coliform bacteria and pathogenic bacteria shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of GB4789.2-1994, GB4789.3-1994 and GB4789.4-1994.

2. Process flow and formula

The process for making fermented shiitake mushroom sausage is divided into two parts: first, the processing of the shiitake mushrooms; second, adding the shiitake mushrooms to the sausage filling, and after fermentation making shiitake mushroom sausage according to the conventional sausage processing process.

(1) Processing of shiitake mushrooms: take a certain amount of fresh shiitake mushrooms, wash them with water, scoop them out, drain off the water so that the moisture content is about 30%, then shred them and set aside.

(2) Preparation of the starter: in the experiment, the method of separately culturing lactic acid bacteria and then mixed fermentation was adopted to prepare the starter, that is, inoculating the soy milk with a 3% inoculum of the working starter of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus mixed at a ratio of 1:2; after mixing evenly, place it in a 37°C constant-temperature incubator and culture it statically for about 10 h; when the acidity reaches 65T-70T, the fermentation can be terminated.

(3) Production process flow of fermented shiitake mushroom sausage: raw meat → cleaning starter seasoning + shredded shiitake mushrooms → washing → meat grinding → curing → bowl chopping → inoculation → stuffing → fermentation → baking and cooking → finished product.

(4) Determination of the formula: with pork as the main raw material, referring to relevant materials and through single-factor experiments, using the sensory evaluation of the product as the index, the shiitake mushroom sausage formula was determined.

Bacterial cellulose fermented sausage formula

Raw material Amount g Raw material Amount g

Pork 100 Salt 6

Shiitake mushrooms 40 Monosodium glutamate 0.3

White sugar 5 Ascorbic acid 0.2

Red yeast rice powder 3 Five-spice powder 0.1

Starch 3 Ginger powder 0.1

(5) Determination of fermentation conditions: since fermentation time, temperature, inoculum amount and so on all affect the color and flavor of the sausage, the optimal culture conditions were determined as fermentation time 24 h, temperature 35°C, and lactic acid bacteria inoculum 3%. Under these conditions, the sausage quality obtained is the best. 3. Key operating points

(1) Selection and treatment of raw meat: select fresh pork that has passed hygienic inspection, with a fat-to-lean ratio of 3:7; remove tendons, cartilage, etc.; after cleaning thoroughly, cut the meat along the direction in which the muscle fibers extend into strips 2 cm wide and 5 cm long, and set aside.

(2) Meat grinding and curing: put the above meat strips into a meat grinder and grind them into a minced meat state; during the grinding process, add ice water to control the temperature at 2°C-4°C. Then add salt, monosodium glutamate, pepper powder, five-spice powder, sucrose, ascorbic acid, starch, shredded shiitake mushrooms, etc., stir evenly, and cure for 24 h under environmental conditions of 2°C-5°C.

(3) Bowl chopping: put the cured minced meat into a bowl chopper and chop for 5 min at a chopping temperature of less than 10°C; the best result is when the meat filling subsequently trembles when patted.

(4) Inoculation and stuffing: inoculate the starter at 3% of the mass of the sausage filling, mix the starter with the meat filling evenly, and then it can be stuffed. After filling the whole casing, tie it into sections, tying a section about every 10 cm; after tying, inspect the sausage body to see whether air bubbles exist, and if so, use a needle to make small holes to release the air.

(5) Fermentation: place the stuffed sausage in a 35°C constant-temperature incubator and culture it for 24 h.

(6) Baking and cooking: hang the fully fermented sausage in a baking oven, control the oven temperature at 65°C-70°C, bake for 3 h, and when the sausage body shows red color and feels smooth and elastic, take it out of the oven and immediately put it into a cooking pot, with water covering the sausage bodies, and keep the water temperature at 75°C-80°C, cook for 40 min so that the sausage bodies are thoroughly cooked, then take them out of the pot and quickly cool them to 0°C-5°C; this is the finished product.

4. Product quality indicators

(1) Sensory indicators: the sausage body and cut surface are ruddy in color, with a rich aroma; the appearance is firm and full, with no oil separation; the cut surface has good binding strength; the taste is fresh and tender, uniform and fine, with a special flavor and no off-odor.

(2) Physicochemical indicators: aw value 0.87, pH value 6.2, moisture 36.2%, salt 3.1%, protein 29.1%, fat 18.2%.

(3) Microbiological indicators: total bacterial count not higher than 100 per g; coliform bacteria not higher than 40 per 100 g; pathogenic bacteria must not be detected.

5. Market analysis

Because shredded shiitake mushrooms are convenient to prepare and have no special process requirements, adding shiitake mushrooms to fermented sausage can improve its taste, increase the cellulose content in the sausage, and through lactic acid bacteria fermentation increase the amino acid content in the sausage and shorten the maturation time. Therefore, it is a new type of sausage with development prospects, especially suitable for small and medium-sized meat product processing enterprises to produce according to local conditions.