An improved method for the preparation of Masmin the traditional smoked tuna of the Lakshadweep is described

Muraleedharan, V.

Valsan, A.P.

Aquatic Commons

Fish. Techno!. (1980) 17, 99-101 99 
Preparation of asm1n- n Improved ethod 
V. MURALEEDHARAN and A. P. VALSAN* 
Calicut Research Centre of Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Calicut-673 005 
An improved method for the preparation of 'Masmin' the traditional smoked tuna of the 
Lakshadweep is described. 
Lakshadweep is well known for its rich 
tuna fishery. Almost the entire tuna landed 
here is converted by a special method into 
'Masmin', a heavily smoked, hard-dried 
product. The method of preparation is 
very primitive so that the product lacks the 
qualities expected of it. Since the masmin 
industry contributes a major share to the 
economy of the islands and the product is 
esteemed as a delicacy in Sri Lanka, Singapore 
and Malaysia, improvement in the quality 
of the product is sure to find better accepta-
bility and in turn improve the islands' 
economy. Valsan (1968) reported a method 
to control the insect attack in masmin. But 
no attempt has so far been made to standar-
dise and improve the method of its prepara-
tion. This paper reports results of such 
a study. The traditional and improved 
methods are compared as regards the quality 
of the products. 
Materials and Methods 
Fresh tuna ( Euthynnus a.ffinis) was 
beheaded, cut open, guts removed, washed 
well and filleted longitudinally. The fillets 
were cut lengthwise into uniform strips of 
about 5 em thickness and 15 em length and 
washed in fresh water, divided into two 
equal lots and processed as described below. 
Traditional method 
Each strip was carefully wound round 
with green coconut leaves, boiled for 1 h 
in a mixture of sea water and fresh water 
(3 :1) and left as such for about 12 h, then 
taken out, coconut leaves removed, spread 
on wire trays placed inside a smoking 
* Present Address: Bombay Research Centre of 
Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Sassoon 
Dock, Colaba, Bombay-400 005 
Vol. 17 
chamber and smoked for 12 h continuously 
usin<r coconut husk and saw dust, dried in 
sun for about 6 h, smoked again for 6 h 
and dried to dark hard sticks. 
Improved method 
Strips prepared above were dipped in 
saturated brine (I kg: 1 litre) for 30 min, 
taken out and exposed to steam for 1 h. The 
steamed strips were sun dried to about 40% 
moisture and then smoked for 4 h till 
the characteristic glossy appearance, brown 
colour and smoky flavour developed. The 
smoked strips were then dried to a moisture 
of about 10 %. The products were analysed 
for chemical composition according to the 
methods of AOAC (1960). 
Results and Discussion 
Boiling in salt water foUowed by leaving 
the cooked meat in the liquid for a long 
time apparently results in greater concen-
tration of salt in the meat and loss of 
nutrients as shown by the decrease in nitrogen 
factors (Table 1). Further, winding each 
strip with green coconut leaves to prevent 
the meat from breaking off during boiling 
is time consuming and laborious. This 
part of the process is conveniently avoided 
in the improved method with much less loss 
of flavour constituents·. 
Variations in the steaming process have 
been tried to determine the optimum stages 
of brining and steaming and their effects 
upon the quality of the product (Table 2). 
Brining followed by steaming gave the best 
results. After steaming, the strips were 
partially dehydrated to a moisture level of 
about 40% with a view to making the 
surface of meat to retain enough moisture 
100 V. MURALEEDHARAN AND A. P. VALSAN 
Table 1. Analytical characteristics of the product (Values in moisture and salt fi'ee basis) 
Mois- Ash Sodium Total Amino Diges- Residual Remarks 
ture chloride nitro- nitro- tible nitro-
(mois- gen gen nitro- gen 
turefree gen 
basis) 
% % % % % % % 
Traditional 6.8 8.1 7.6 10.61 0.1445 10.08 0.53 Dull dark 
product colour, hardened 
crust on the 
surface, pungent 
smoky odour, 
highly salty, 
very hard, 
fibrous and 
difficult to chew 
Improved 10.2 9.5 1.6 11.94 0.5702 11.68 0.26 Uniformly dark 
product brown appear-
ance, mild smoky 
flavour blend-
ing very well 
with the charac-
teristic fishy 
flavour, mode-
rately hard, soft 
to chew and 
mild salty taste 
Table 2. Variations in the steaming process and their effect on the quality of the smoked product 
Type of 
process 
2 
3 
Appearance 
Good, uniform dark 
brown colour 
Not good, dark ash 
colour with stray 
white patches on 
the surface 
Not good, very 
dark appearance 
Flavour 
Mild smoky flavour 
blending very well 
with the characte-
ristic fishy flavour 
Predominantly 
smoky flavour 
masking the 
fishy flavour 
Not good, promi-
nent smoky flavour 
Taste 
Moderately salty, 
soft to chew 
Prominently salty 
with smoky taste 
Highly salty, 
bitter taste 
1. Dipped in saturated brine for 30 min and then steamed without pressure for lh 
2. Immersed in 15% brine and steamed for 1 h without pressure 
3. Steamed for 1 h without pressure and then brined for 30 min in saturated brine 
Remarks 
Excellent 
Good 
Poor 
1980 
PREPARATION OF MASMIN 
to absorb smoke vapours and produce the 
characteristic flavour and dry enough to 
allow the smoke components to react with 
the surface prot~in to produce the desired 
colour. Ruiter (1979) observed that hot 
smoking gives rise to ideal colour, flavour 
and glossy appearance if the moisture content 
of the sample is less than 65%- In the 
conventional process there is no pre-drying 
of the meat and the product acquires a dull 
dark appearance aft~:r smoking. Excessive 
interaction between sm0ke components and 
surface proteins inhibit; the penetration of 
smoke constituents. As a result, the sub-
surface remains unsmokecl., soft and susce-
ptible to rapid degradation, while the surface 
develops a hardened crust with a pungent 
smoky odour as in the case of the traditional 
product. Hence smoking time was limited 
to 4 h, during which the product acquired 
a glossy appearance, charact.:ristic brown 
colour and the desired flavour. 
The smoked product can be dried in sun 
or in artificial dryers to a moisture level of 
Vol. 17 
101 
10%- It is usual in the traditional process 
to dry the product hard till it reaches almost 
the consistency of wood. Heavy smoking 
followed by hard drying significantly alters 
the composition of the protein fraction of 
the meat. This contributes to the compara-
tively high amount of non-digestible form 
of prot~::in and low quantity of amino 
nitrogen in the traditional product. Leaching 
out during cooking and subsequent holding 
in the brine also may be the causative 
factors for the latter phenomenon. 
The authors are thankful to Shri G. K. Kuriyan, 
Director, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology 
for permission to publish this paper. 
References 
AOAC (1960) Official Methods of Analysis 
9th edn., Association of Official Agri-
cultural Chemists, Washington 
Ruiter, A. (1979) Fd Techno!., 33, 5 
Valsan, A. P. (1968) Fish. Techno!. 5, 1 


Preparation of Masmin: an improved method

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Preparation of Masmin: an improved method

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