Characteristics of Pastirma Types Produced from Water Buffalo Meat

Pastirma is a traditional Turkish meat product which produced by using whole meat pieces obtained from water buffalo and beef carcasses. Although there are many studies on the general characteristics of the pastirma produced by using beef meat, the number of the studies on the pastirma produced from water buffalo meat is quite limited. In this study, different types of pastirma (sirt, bohca, kusgomu, sekerpare and kurek) were made from water buffalo meat; and they were investigated in terms of physco-chemical, microbiological, sensorial and textural properties. There were no differences between pastirma types in terms of pH, redness (a*) value and the amount of non-protein nitrogenous substance (P>0.05). However, the lowest mean aw value (0.84 +/- 0.01) was determined in kusgomu (P<0.05). Sekerpare showed the highest mean lightness (L*) value (P<0.05). While no significant difference was observed between the types of pastirma in terms of Micrococcus/Staphylococcus count (P>0.05), the lowest count of lactic acid bacteria was found in kusgomu (P<0.05). The highest mean odor score was determined in the sirt type of pastirma (P<0.05). Kusgomu, which dries more quickly, also showed higher values in terms of firmness and chewiness compared to other types of pastirma (P<0.05). Furthermore, textural differences between the types of pastirma were observed more clearly with the principal component analysis (PCA) applied to textural properties.