Products from Rainbow Trout

Rainbow trout is an exotic coldwater species which was introduced in many parts of India. The Himalayan foothills, Kashmir, upper streams of Western Ghats in Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala are ideal for rainbow trout culture. In India, there is a high demand for this fish among the urban population. Presently, this fish is marketed in India in fresh chilled condition. This species is a ideal for the preparation of a variety of value added products.

Handling practices for fresh trout

• The newly caught fish should be gutted, washed and packed in ice for better preservation.
• By adopting good chilling practices, fresh fish can also be preserved in whole condition
• To reduce bacterial contamination, fish should be gutted, gills removed and washed thoroughly before packing in ice. The fish can be marketed as whole or as fillets. The yield at different stages of processing is given below:

The proximate composition of farmed rainbow trout is as follows

Frozen trout

Rainbow trout can be kept in good condition by freezing and holding in a cold store. Packing individual fish in polyethylene cover is effective in reducing dehydration and oxidation of the frozen product. Frozen whole trout remained in good condition at -18 ° C for 12 months.

Smoked trout

The most common form of value addition of  trout is as whole gutted, hot smoked product. It is cooked enough during the process, so as to be presented as a ready to eat product. CIFT has standardized the technique for the preparation of smoked products from this fish. The whole fish was; beheaded, gutted, split open and cold blanched in 10% brine for 15 minutes. It was then hot smoked at 60°C for three hours to obtain the desired colour and flavour. Storage studies under chilled conditions showed that vacuum, packed smoked trout had a longer shelf life of 11 weeks when compared to air packed samples.

Coated fillets

Coated product is a much sought after value added item. Battering and breading improve he appearance. Skinless fillets obtained, from whole trout were cold blanched in 5% salt and 0.1% citric acid for 10 minutes before breading and battering. This product remained good  for twelve months in frozen storage at -18 ° C.

Canned trout

The whole fish was gutted, washed and made into steaks of, uniform size. It was cold blanched in 10% NaCl containing 0.5% citric acid for 10 minutes and smoked at 45 ° C for two hours and given a partial drying for one hour. Approximately 120g of steaks were finger packed in 307 X 109 TFS cans. The cans were heat processed at 121°C in refined groundnut oil. Smoked and canned trout steak in oil is an excellent product with a shelf life of more than one year at ambient conditions.

For more details, contact

The Director
Central Institute of Fisheries Technologv (ICAR)
CIFT Junction, Matsyapuri P.O. Willingdon Island,
Cochin - 682 029, Kerala, India.
Phone   : 0484-2666845 / Fax :0484-2668212
E.mail : cift@ciftmail.org

Source: Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR), Cochin