pH, WATER ACTIVITY, AND PROXIMATE

COMPOSITION OF MORCILLA OF LEÓN, A

TRADITIONAL EUROPEAN BLOOD SAUSAGE
Cabeza, E.A.1, Zumalacárregui, J.M. 2, Antiduelo, A. 2, Mateo, J. 2
1Department of Food Microbiology. Faculty of Basics Science. University of Pamplona, Pamplona, Colombia.
2 Department of Hygiene and Food Technology. Faculty of Veterinary Science. University of León. Campus de

Vegazana, s/n. 24071, León, Spain, dhtjmo@unileon.es

BACKGROUND
Among the diverse types of meat products in the world, there are some typical products made with blood; these are denominated as
“Blood sausages”, and they are made (besides blood) with ingredients such as fat, offal, onion, cereals, spices, etc., existing a great
diversity of ingredients as well as ways of processing and preparation. The Morcilla of León is a typical product from “Castilla y León”
(Spain), being onion (65%–75%), pork and/or beef fat (10%–20%), pork and/or beef blood (10%–20%), rice (2%–5%), salt (1%–1.5%)
and spices the main ingredients in its composition. Process usually consists on precooking the mixture of ingredients, which are then
stuffed into a pork casing and cooked in hot water (80-100ºC). Finally, Morcilla of León is consumed fried or boiled.
OBJECTIVE Table 2. Proximate composition of Morcilla of León expressed as
The purpose of this study is to know the proximate composition percentage of fresh matter.
of the Morcilla of León and to compare Morcilla of León with Mean S.D. Min. Max.
different blood sausages of the world (European Union and Moisture 66.2 4.8 59.8 75.0
Latin American). Fat 14.2 3.0 9.0 17.2
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Samples of
Total protein 5.7 0.8 4.4 7.0
Morcilla of León Ash 1.9 0.2 1.7 2.1
were purchased Digestible 9.0 1.8 6.4 10.8
#
from the retail carbohydrates
*
1. Morcilla of Burgos 2. Morcilla of Asturias market coming Fiber 3.0 --- --- ---
from nine different Fig. 2. Morcilla of León. # Expressed as % of glucose.
* Estimated by difference.
meat industries,
which were Regarding to moisture content, it was also similar to that of Morcilla
3. Morcela of Asar 4. Morcilla of Extremadura 5. Morcela of Monchique located in León of Burgos but 11% lower than a blood sausage from Chile, and 21%
Fig. 1. Different blood sausages from the City. pH was and 25% higher than the moisture of Morcela of Assar from Portugal
Iberian Peninsula (1, 2 and 4 from Spain, measured by a and the German Blutwurst, respectively. The reason for this
3 and 5 from Portugal. pHmeter. variability can be explained by differences in the types and
Water activity (aw) was measured by a dewdrop point method ingredients used in the formulation of each kind of blood sausages.
(Decagon Devices). Moisture was determined in a dry oven. The fat content on dry matter found in different blood sausages had
Fat content of the dehydrated sample was measured according a range between 28% of Morcilla of Burgos to 70% of Blutwurst,
to Official Method 960.39 (AOAC-1999). Total protein was while the fat content on dry matter of our product was intermediate.
determined by the Kjeldahl according to Official Method 965.09 In the same way, protein percentage on dry matter of Morcilla of
(AOAC-1999), by using 6.25 as conversion factor. Ash content León was slightly higher than that found in Morcilla of Burgos, and
was measured by incineration of the sample at 550ºC. lower than those of other blood sausages.
Digestible carbohydrates (DC) extraction was carried out with Table 3. Proximate composition of Morcilla de León expressed as
52% perchloric acid following a national official method and percentage of dry matter.
quantification was made with the phenol–sulphuric technique. Mean S.D. Min. Max.
Data were expressed as percentage on fresh and dry matter.
RESULTS AND DISCUSION Fat 42.1 6.6 32.1 51.3
Table 1. Mean, standard deviation (S.D.), maximum and Total protein 17.1 2.8 13.0 20.8
minimum values of pH and aw of Morcilla of León. Ash 6.6 1.4 4.9 8.6
Mean S.D. Min. Max. Digestible
# 27.0 6.1 20.1 38.8
aw 0.972 0.003 0.969 0.977 carbohydrates
Fiber* 7.2 --- --- ---
pH 6.1 0.4 6.0 7.1
# Expressed as % of glucose.
* Estimated by difference.
pH and aw values for Morcilla of León are shown in table 1, in
which it is indicated that the pH averages c.a. 6 and the aw Content of DC in Morcilla of León was rather lower than in Morcilla
averages 0.97. These parameters, which depend mainly on the of Burgos –51% on dry matter– because more rice (20% to 35%) is
ingredients used in the sausage, i.e. onion, blood, fat and salt, added to make the last sausage while the amount of rice or bread
were similar to those found in the Morcilla of Burgos, another that is added to the Morcilla of León is up to 10%. The presence of
typical blood sausage from Spain made mainly with rice, blood, fiber (more than 1%) in the Morcilla of León as well as in other
fat and onion. Due to the high pH and aw of the sausage and blood sausages are due to the addition of vegetables as
the absence of preservatives, this product is susceptible to ingredients, such as the onion, which, as it was said before, is the
early spoilage, its shelf-life depends on the initial microbial principal ingredient of Morcilla of León –fiber content of cooked
population of the mixture, heat treatment intensity in the boiling onion is approximately 1.5%. Finally, ash content of Morcilla of León
stage, handling conditions after boiling, and storage was in the higher part of the range observed for other blood
temperature. Proximate composition of Morcilla of León is sausages (4.3% a 8.4% on dry matter).
shown in tables 2 and 3.
CONCLUSIONS
Morcilla of León is a cooked product subject to easy microbial spoilage which needs chilled storage. It represents a nutritional source of
fat, carbohydrates, fiber and protein –mainly from blood–; nonetheless it has less protein than meat and most of meat products.